Submerged
by Galadraen
Summary: How long had these feelings been building. When did start letting the Uchiha be in charge of everything? Was it during that exchange of power that he fell in love? WARNING: YAOI/KisaIta
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **_After much time and consideration, though I have no updated this fic in over a year, I have decided to go through it and do a near re-write so help better establish the plot-line and make it easier for me to wrap it up within a few more chapters. Thanks to everyone who has been so patient with me. You're all lovely.__  
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**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto or any of Kishimoto's creations. _

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter One<strong>

When exactly had he let the Uchiha take charge? When had he started following his orders and coming to his every beck and call? Hoshigaki Kisame sat in one of the beaten up recliners at Akatsuki headquarters pondering the thought. Had he, the Demon of the Mist, killer of countless people, gone soft? Rivaling his partner by eleven years, he should be the one making the calls, yet he always found himself complying to the boy's every need and request. Perhaps it was just the more convenient thing to not make decisions. He could do without the arguing. The other pairs did enough of that for the entirety of the Akatsuki. Letting Itachi take charge and make the calls meant he could lie back and relax without thinking too hard or making the big decisions. It was easier that way...

Currently the raven haired Sharigan user sat opposite of his shark featured partner at the scuffed and worn out table in the living room of the Akatsuki lair. His brow was furrowed in thought as he sorted out some details for their latest mission, and poured over an old ragged map of the countries they would be traveling through. Leader-sama had informed them earlier that morning that they were to leave as soon as prepared and to head out towards the Takigakure and Tsuchi no Kuni border just southwest of their main base. The mission was a simple one; patrol the border between the Earth Country and the Waterfall Country and to check for any disturbances. Rumor had it that Takigakure was collecting intelligence on the Iwagakure from the inside and transferring it back to their village leader. Seeing as they weren't too terribly suspicious, it would be easy for the two of them to look like simple travelers passing through the countries, while gathering information and observing the border. If anyone did recognize them as Akatsuki, they should know from the rumours to steer clear of them and let them go about their business.

Information retrieval or Intel missions weren't really the pair's specialty, but in the case of an actual fight breaking out they were the best for the job. Kisame personally hoped for the latter, seeing as missions without a bit of bloodshed were rather boring. Plus, if they really did need to question anyone he could simply drain them of their chakra and shave their limbs off when he'd finished. The possibility of them running into any actual threats was low from what Itachi had mentioned. They were to simply travel up the border and keep a wary eye out for suspicious travelers and activity. Normally the Stone Nation would have sent their own ninjas for such a job, but by hiring the Akatsuki they were able to keep a low profile and gather information from unsuspecting travelers without alerting their rivals and enemies to the fact they were monitoring the area and igniting the tempers and suspicions of their neighboring rival villages.

Kisame continued to lounge in the chair, thumbing his fingers against the cushion in agitation. Waiting around was boring. He'd rather get walking and get the mission over with. It's been ages since he'd had a good fight or cut someone limb from limb. It'd be nice to get away from the base...It wasn't often when more than one pair of Akatsuki took refuge at the base, but occasionally one of the other pairs would show up. Sasori and his younger partner's constant bickering wore his nerves thin, and if he thought they were bad, Kakuzu's newest partner was a complete horror. They'd arrived sometime in the night and ever since had been engaged in yelling matches. The Mist-nin estimated he wouldn't last more than a few days before the older man disemboweled him. Kisame rose and began to pace the room, hands resting on the back of his neck. A sigh escaped his lip, and he furrowed his brow in frustration. How long was this going to take? He hadn't actively done any planning for missions in ages and he'd forgotten just how long it could take.

"Kisame, stop that." Itachi scolded, finally annoyed with his partner's fidgeting, though not enough to bother looking up from the table. Kisame crossed his arms in a pout and let out a frustrated sigh. Itachi was the only person he'd allow to push him around like that besides perhaps Leader-sama, seeing as he had to follow orders from him.

"Does a mission that is so simple really need this much preparation, Itachi-san?"

"A simple mission can turn into much more without warning at times, Kisame." Itachi answered still not looking up from the old map clutched in his fingers.

"If you're trying to refer to the incident in Konoha, that situation would have gone just fine if you would have let me cut that stupid green-spandex guy's legs off." he huffed, remembering the encounter with utter contempt and silently vowing to exterminate the shinobi whenever he met him again.

"And in Shukuba Town, we hadn't expected to have to battle with one of the Sannin either..." added Itachi.

Kisame sighed again, this time in resignation, "I suppose you're right...can we just leave soon?"

"Hn."

"Very well, Itachi-san."

One thing was certain, he wasn't the same boy he'd met two years prior. The shark recalled their tense first meeting with a grin. The raven haired boy hadn't been one to be intimidated by Kisame's harsh exterior and attitude. Rather, he brushed it off his intimidating act and countered it with his own smart comments. Pretty cocky for being some pretty boy kid new to the organization. His hair had grown significantly longer since he had joined the Akatsuki and his shoulders broadened significantly, giving him an older appearance. The one thing that had stayed the same was the predominate tear troughs that gave him his aged and constantly worn out appearance, though perhaps he looked even more worn out than when he has first joined the group of missing-nin. When he had first come to meet with Leader-sama and the first members of the Akatsuki he had seemed so frail and almost sickly looking. The appearance was deceiving though. Itachi was extremely deadly.

He may seem a little thickheaded at times, but after spending two years with the Uchiha he could read him far more easily than he would have guessed. The subtle nuances in his voice, body language and his gaze told more than his partner ever cared to voice. The slight incline of his head when he was intrigued with some trivial thing. The way his eyes lit up ever so slightly when he found something he enjoyed. The miniscule amount the right side of his mouth upturned when he was amused, though he'd never admit anything had pleased him. He remembered the day they had went to retrieve the Kyuubi host from Konoha he had seen the look in his eyes as he gazed down upon his village. An expression that almost suggested longing and a hint of relief to see his childhood home safe and sound. It had been brief but he hadn't missed it. For killing his entire clan, he sure seemed to still care somewhat for his village. The inner workings of that kid's head were a damn mystery.

Kisame suggested waiting around at the little tea-shop in Konoha to gather intel, simply because he knew Itachi had a hidden sweet tooth but also for himself to reflect on the home of his partner. He would have never imagined that only years before a massacre had occurred. When the raven had joined the Akatsuki, Kisame had been the first member considered to partner with him. Having some punk kid follow him around on missions wasn't exactly appealing to him but overtime the boy had grown on him. After experiencing the younger boy's wide variety of jutsu and techniques he was actually now convinced the sickly looking kid was actually the stronger of the two.

Funny how Kami-sama seemed to stick him with his complete opposite. Itachi was a lithe bodied and attractive young man. His effeminate features and pouty lips were sure to make the girls swoon if his wise older expression and calm collected personality didn't get them first. Kisame didn't doubt for a second that the girls of his village must have fawned over him, constantly vying for his attention. From the little Itachi had told him, he was a prodigy child, graduating academy at age seven and being promoted to Chuunin status only three years later. The Uchiha then proceeded to beat out numerous older and more experienced candidates for a position as ANBU captain by the age of thirteen. Himself on the other hand was an outcast, shunned and avoided by his village like a leper. Never had a real relationship in his life...He had grown up during the gruesome trials of the Bloody Mist, learning to become a ruthless killer at a young age and never forming close bonds or becoming too attached to his comrades...the only real thing the partners had in common was the simple fact that they betrayed the closest people to them, murdering their own comrades and family.

Sudden movement triggered Kisame's eyes to glance upward. Itachi had finally rose from his seat and was tucking the map into one of the pockets of his cloak. His cold eyes met Kisame's, sending a shiver down the his spine. What other things besides the few subtle emotions he could read lay behind that gaze? The older man knew without having to speak that his partner was prepared to set out on their mission. Strapping Samehada to his back, he followed his partner out into the chill night air.

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><p><em><strong>-Galadraen<strong>_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_I always find it so hard to find time to write anymore but I promise I intend to finish this out. Updates just might be a tad slower than you'd like. This chapter actually starts off the awkward tension between the two...well more on Kisame's end. Anyhow, read and review! Reviews keep my brain tickin'._

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto or any of Kishimoto's creations.  
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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Two<strong>

"And then I told him I'd sooner cut my own legs off than go on a date with his ugly sister." the sharkman chuckled as he finished recalling his umpteenth story to the Uchiha strolling along beside him.

"Hn." was the only reply he managed to get out of the boy all day. He couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

"She actually looked like more of a fish than I do..."

"..."

He'd actually begun to make it a bit of a game. By now he had probably recounted his entire life history to the bored looking raven, going so far as to even fabricate a few stories when he couldn't think of anything to say. He hadn't meant to tell his partner so much information about his life before the Akatsuki, but the dead silences between them had gotten so frustrating that he found himself talking about anything and everything before he could stop himself. It didn't seem to make a difference though. Nothing seemed to get a reaction from his stoical partner. The shark had recounted stories anywhere from brutally murdering one of his only close friends to taking a puppy in from the rain and caring for it. He would repeatedly glance over at Itachi to see if he had so much as smirked or furrowed his brow. Nothing. He continued to look forward and walk on as if nothing has been said in the first place. Damn, what did it take for him to get even a double take out of this guy? He toyed with the idea of telling him ridiculous out of character lies. In the end, he couldn't bring himself to go that far. In fact, that'd probably just make things between them even worse.

Hell, why did he even care if Itachi practically ignored every word he said? It wasn't like it really mattered anyway. They weren't exactly friends were they? They were simply just two people working for an organization for a similar purpose. Being partners hadn't required they be the best of friends and share their deepest darkest secrets with one another. The other members of the Akatsuki weren't exactly friends either. In fact, they seemed to get along better than most of them. Still, it was annoying. He swore even the old miser Kakuzu was more talkative than his partner...What was with that attitude anyway? Even during fights and confrontations of the same sort, nothing seemed to break his stone cold stare. Feeling frustrated he decided to give up on his "game" for the moment.

Truth was, not only did he hate the awkward silence that hung between them but also that fact that in the numerous years he had spent with the Uchiha, he knew very little about him. He had never confided in him the story of how he had brutally murdered his clan or even stories of his childhood. Kisame even had a feeling that his partner looked back mournfully upon all those times. It wasn't like he needed to tell him anyways. He had been briefed by Leader-sama when Itachi has joined up with the Akatsuki. Hell, it'd just be nice to hear a voice other than his own for a change. He'd rather liked Itachi's voice...it was a rare occasion when he did get a chance to hear him speak. It was pleasant even to hear him scolding him for always being too ready to fight anyone who crossed their path, or gave them even the slightest trouble.

Perhaps Itachi was just an introverted type of person. Maybe he just wasn't a very social guy...or didn't get out much when he was growing up. He had known some of his classmates growing up that had been incredibly awkward because they were raised primarily in the comfort of their own home and hadn't been allowed out much. It'd only made them easier to kill since they were so naive. He had a feeling that wasn't the case with Itachi though. How annoying...still he would rather be partner with Itachi, have any one of the other members of the Akatsuki by his side.

Though he was silent, the raven was powerful and when he needed to speak, was sharp with his words. He didn't get distracted, never complained, and was completely focused until their missions were completed. They actually made a pretty swell team even with the lack of communication.

Shortly after passing into the Waterfall Country they entered a small rundown town. It was amazing what sort of gossip and rumours you could find in such a little town. News traveled quickly. If anything happened it seemed to spread like wildfire through these sorts of places. He wouldn't be surprised if they heard anything that may be of use to them in a local tavern. He had suspected this was why the raven had chosen to travel through the rundown village. Unfortunately for them, there were absolutely no taverns in the village. A few run down apartments stood near the entrance followed by a few shops selling fruit and other various goods, and what appeared to be a run down antique store. Kisame glanced at his partner who continued to stare ahead and walk by his side. Had he planned to come here for any information? Or just perhaps a small detour on their mission? He was even more confused for their unexpected stop when the Uchiha made his way towards the pawn shop.

"What are we doing? Why are we even bothering going in this store. I doubt anyone is going to be in here..." Kisame asked as he pulled aside the curtain draped entryway for his smaller partner to enter through ahead of him. "It's not like we'll actually buy anything in this place either."

"Appearing as if we are tourists. Now be quiet." Itachi replied in a commanding tone.

"No one is even in..."

"Kisame..."

The shark decided it was probably best just to not argue with him. He stepped inside the rundown shop. Dust seemed to cover every display. Itachi had already disappeared into an aisle ahead of him. The shark glanced around the deserted shop. The only person besides themselves was a young girl who was currently curiously eyeing him from her position behind a desk on the right hand side of the shop. Brushing off his annoyance at being oggled by some little girl, he followed after his partner.

"So, we staying here tonight too?" he inquired.

"No."

"Why not?"he asked, a little disappointed. It was a rare occasion when they did stay at an inn...but if his partner's plan had been to appear as just wandering travelers or tourists it seemed practical. He stopped to pretend to look at a crystal vase that was covered in a layer of grime and dust.

"It's not needed."

"Thought we were trying to be "touristy." he chuckled, his lips curling into a smirk as he wiped a bit of the dust off with his index finger, grinding it between it and his thumb.

Itachi didn't reply.

"Well, it's not like if we stay at an inn it'll be any less different than..." he stopped mid sentence when he realized his partner was no longer standing next to him.

The Uchiha was at the end of the aisle of trinkets, his eyes focused on a small figure at the top. A pale hand stretched out to pluck the figure from the shelf. He opened his palm and turned over the tiny trinket in his hand. It was a small porcelain figure of a pale pink cat with a large black paw-print marking across the stomach. Itachi stared at the little object in his hands for some time as if lost in deep thought. Kisame stared blankly at him, clearly perplexed. Itachi was usually the one getting on his case for dawdling and now he was sitting their captivated by something that looked like it belonged on his grandmother's knickknack shelf. He cleared his throat, hoping to jar the raven haired boy from his daydreaming.

Itachi continued to stare at the object in his palm as if he had heard nothing, but that wasn't unusual. Wait...but what was that look in his eyes? He seemed almost sad. It was just a figure of a stupid cat. A pink one at that...

"Never knew you were fond of cats, Itachi-san." the sharkman teased over his shoulder.

"Heh, just old memories." the raven promptly placed the little figure back on the shelf and headed for the exit, not even looking up at his older partner. "Let's go."

Kisame eyed the boy curiously. Never had he seen a look quite like that in his younger partner's eyes before...A mixture of sorrow and pain. What had he been thinking? Damn, reading that kid's emotions was like trying to read a book written in a foreign language sometimes. His eyes made their way to the object that had caused the swell of emotion, if you could call it that, in the raven haired boy's eyes. The tiny kitten figure's painted eyes stared back at him. This tiny thing, what had it reminded him of? As much as he tried he could hardly get a word out of Itachi, yet this simple trinket had caused him to stop in his tracks. Swallowing his pride, he snatched the little figure off the shelf.

Kisame felt every last shred of his masculinity fall away as he purchased the tiny figure. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this. Really? Had he, Scourge of the Mist, just bought his murderous partner a tiny pale pink kitten figure? Was this really happening? He couldn't even meet the cashier's eyes as he paid for and pocketed the tiny figure and left the shop. He was almost sure that for once in his life it was obvious even against his blue skin that he was blushing. Damn it, the things he was willing to do just to get a reaction out this boy...

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><p>They had walked about four miles outside of the small village when the sun finally disappeared behind the trees. Itachi had decided they had better stop and catch some sleep in the cover of the trees a ways away from the path. The raven removed his cloak and folded it up and placed it behind his head at the base of a tree and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep. Kisame leaned Samehada up against a tree across from him and sat down to rest against it. He had never really preferred to sleep outside. He felt too vulnerable. It didn't help much that he was an extremely deep sleeper and feared he may not wake in the case of a surprise attack. Being murdered in his sleep was far from the way he wished to die. However, he took some comfort in the fact that he knew his partner was not as heavy a sleeper as himself and the fact that Samehada would grow restless if it sensed any unusual chakra approaching. Closing his eyes, he attempted to sleep but to no avail. At least an hour had passed and he still didn't feel any more tired.<p>

As he sat propped against the tree attempting to distract his mind, Kisame's thoughts couldn't help but stray off to the gift he had bought for Itachi earlier that day. His heart grew heavy in his chest and he began to fidget with the fastenings on his cloak. He suddenly felt a little foolish for even buying the silly thing. The reaction he so desperately wanted to see would probably be the Uchiha laughing in his face. Well, he supposed that was better than more awkward silence. That's what he had wanted wasn't it? For his stoic partner to actually show emotion for once? Hell, he supposed he could endure being laughed at if it meant making that damn depressed looking kid smile for once in his life.

His eyes wandered off to the form of his partner curled up underneath the tree across from him. His figure looked so delicate and almost feminine from this angle. Itachi's pale skin reflected white in the dim moonlight giving him an eternal glow. What was most surprising was the expression on his face. For once he was looking upon something other than the ice cold expression he was used to. In his sleep, the Uchiha twitched and furrowed his eyebrows. With a grunt he tossed his head to the other side, a small section of his bangs falling across his face. It was remarkable how at peace he looked. Seeing him sleeping so sounding against the tree, it was almost hard to believe he was even capable of murdering his entire clan. He wondered if Itachi had ever looked this peaceful before. Perhaps when he was still a child? He was jolted from his thoughts surprisingly by his partner's voice.

"What are you doing?" Itachi was now wide awake and looking back at him incredulously.

"I...uhh...couldn't sleep is all." Kisame was more than embarrassed at having been caught eyeing his partner.

"Is that so..."

"Yes, uhhh...also well..."

"..."

"It's n-nothing, just..." he managed to stutter, a flush creeping across his cheeks. Wait, why the hell was he blushing? "I...uhhh...well, earlier I..."

"Yes, Kisame...?"

Kisame could feel the Uchiha's crimson Sharingan eyes boring into him as he fiddled with the trinket in his pocket. Was buying it for him really a good idea? Damn it, of course it was. He'd finally see the Uchiha surprised, or at least maybe he'd smile or something. Summoning his courage he pulled out the figure and pressed it into the raven's hand. "You just seemed to like this stupid little thing is all..."

Itachi opened his palm. Seeing the little figure resting in his hand, his eyes widened slightly. A pale finger reached out to stroke the black paw-print on the kitten's stomach and he smirked.

Oh dear lord, he smirked...he actually fucking smirked.

A toothy grin spread across Kisame's face and he chuckled. Itachi still looked dazed as he fidgeted with the little pink cat in his hands. He looked as if he was contemplating something, his crimson eyes finally rising from the figure to meet Kisame's.

"You're strange, Kisame." he made a noise that for a second the sharkman thought was an attempt at a laugh. "Regardless, thank you."

Kisame couldn't help but laugh. The emotional void, Itachi Uchiha, had just thanked him for gifting him a delicate mini-kitty figure. His laughter soon ended when his gaze dropped back to his young partner. Itachi's eyes were widened in shock and focused on something directly behind him.

Rushing to grab Samehada, he pulled the giant sword in front of them, just in time to block the three kunai that had flown out from the trees above.

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><p><strong>AN: **_Alright, so the story behind the stupid little cat figure is from one of the fillers (and apparently this is also touched upon in the manga briefly) Itachi gave Sasuke the task of collecting the paw-prints of cats to try to keep him busy. _

**_-Galadraen_**


	3. Chapter 3

****Disclaimer: ****_I do not own Naruto or any of Kishimoto's creations. _

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Three<strong>

Before Kisame could even evaluate where the attack was coming from, the Uchiha was already moving towards the trees. Grabbing a kunai from his pouch, he spun it around his finger, grabbing the hilt and flung it straight into the dark tree tops. A sharp scream broke the silence of the night and a figure sprung from the trees. He wasn't a match for the skilled Uchiha. He lunged at Itachi, sword drawn, and sliced out at his target. Easily avoiding the assault, the raven launched another kunai at their attacker, dropping him to the ground with another scream. Itachi approached the fallen body of the man and ripped the projectile out from his back, wiping the blood clean on his pants. He held the weapon in his hands, scanning the trees for more signs of movement. When he was confident the coast was clear, he moved forward and nudged the limp body with his foot.

"He's dead." he stated simply, as if they were having a conversation about the weather over a nice breakfast.

"Yup, it would seem so." Kisame frowned, knowing they probably missed one of their best opportunities to question an enemy ninja. He was surprised they had been found out so quickly.

"But this one isn't." Itachi suddenly spun around, flinging the kunai he had just used to kill the man before into the trees behind him.

A third scream filled the night as another ninja bearing the Waterfall symbol upon their headband fell from the tree, kunai embedded deep into the flesh of his thigh. It was a no surprise what happened next. Before the shinobi even knew what hit him, he was trapped in the genjustu of the deadly Uchiha. Genjustu had never really been Kisame's specialty, but the way the Uchiha wielded those Sharingan eyes, he was confident they were more powerful than his Samehada.

It didn't take long for Itachi to extract information from the enemy-nin. Genjutsu, after all, was his specialty. When he had finished the Waterfall nin was slumped over, shaking horribly and looked as if he was unconscious. Itachi looked rather displeased.

"He doesn't offer us much, but I was still able to extract some vital information from him."

"Way to hog all the fun, Itachi." the shark teased, chuckling. It wasn't their first mission where the raven had single-handedly defeated all their enemies. "Damn, you'd think I was only here to look pretty! You seem to handle everything on your own these day..."

"Efficiency is..." without warning the raven stopped speaking, and his eyes widened suddenly.

Now there was a look Kisame had _never_ seen in the stoic Uchiha's eyes before: pain. Wincing mid-sentence, the raven gritted his teeth against the pain and a pale hand reached up to clutch desperately at his chest. The younger man gasped for breath and suddenly dropped to his knees, his other hand flying up to his mouth as his body was wracked by a coughing fit. The raven was shaking just as desperately as the Waterfall-nin had been before. It seemed like time had stopped as Kisame stared down speechless as his partner trembled on his knees. Blood was now trickling from behind his hand and down his forearm. He'd never seen him look so...helpless. What should he do? What was even happening...fuck, he had to do _something_! His mind was racing, ideas flashing in and out of his head sporadically as he tried desperately to think of something to do.

He stepped forward, no idea what he was going to do for Itachi, when he sensed movement from the corner of his eye.

"Die you bastard!"

Apparently, the enemy-nin had recovered and was taking this perfect opportunity to try to make a break for it, or at least die trying. There was too much distance between himself and Itachi to even think of stopping the kunai that were soaring straight at his partner. The scream had drawn the attention of Itachi's eyes. If his attacker had stayed silent, Kisame was sure he may have gotten lucky. The Uchiha threw himself backwards just as the kunai soared past him, one weapon grazing across his stomach, ripping into his skin and shirt instead of finding it's mark inside of his intestines the other passing closely by his head. Before the Waterfall-nin even had a chance to escape, Kisame was before him with lightening speed. The last thing the enemy-nin saw before Kisame snapped his neck was a flash of razor sharp teeth curved into a vicious smile.

Kisame quickly moved to his partner's side, still unsure of what he could even do for him. The coughing fit had stop and his breathing seemed to have returned to normal. His young partner glanced down at his torn shirt, already soaked in blood. Itachi stripped off his shirt, tossing it to the side and began to dig in one of his pouches for some first aid supplies to tend to his wound. Luckily, he had avoided any severe damage and only had a small laceration across one side of his abdomen and a shallow cut across his temple. It was bleeding quite a bit for not being a very deadly injury, but head wounds always seemed to bleed more than others. As Itachi looked in his pouch, the shark's eyes wandered across his partner's chest down to his taunt abs, stopping on the wound that was marring the younger man's perfect body. He was still thin underneath that cloak, but didn't look quite as sickly as Kisame's first impression of the younger man. His body was in surprisingly good shape, the pale skin almost seemed as if it was glowing underneath the faint moonlight. Finally finding what he needed, he poured out a small bottle of alcohol onto his wounds, hardly wincing as he disinfected the cuts. The shark watched as it trailed down his abdomen, pooling in his navel and spilling over his taunt body. Okay, so Itachi didn't look nearly as thin under that cloak as he had first assumed...

"Kisame..."

"Oh, huh...uh, what?" his partnered stammered as he came back to his senses, flushing slightly as he realized his partner had been watching him admire his body.

"Hold this for me." Itachi motioned to the bandage he had placed on his side, paying no notice to the stammering of the obviously embarrassed former Mist-nin.

"You...uh, want me to help you?" the shark asked precautiously.

"...yes." the raised his eyebrow slightly, as if questioning Kisame's sudden reluctance. "It keeps falling. I cannot wrap it with one hand. I need you to hold it for me."

"Yeah...okay." Kisame could feel his heart thumping in his chest. "No problem..."

Taking a deep breath, he crouched down and reluctantly placed his hand firmly against the bandage to hold it against the younger man's stomach. Itachi winced slightly at the applied pressure, a small gasp escaping his lips. Instantly worried he had hurt his partner, the shark quickly pulled his hand away from the raven once again allowing the bandage to slip away from it's position. Disgruntled, Itachi moved the bandage back over the wound.

"Stop fooling around, Kisame. Hold it still."

"Oh...s-sorry." he muttered. "I thought I hurt you or something..."

Cautiously, he placed his hand back more gently than before onto the bandage and the Uchiha began to wrap the binding tape around his abdomen. The shark's heart was racing in his chest as his partner took his sweet time tending to his wound. The raven's face was only a few feet away from his own. Kisame was surprised the Uchiha was allowing him to be so close to him. Hell, he didn't even remember a single time that he had actually touched him, let alone when they had been this close to one another. Was it strange that he intimidated him so much? Though his physique wasn't as intimidating as his own, his constant glare had been enough to make even the burliest of ninjas turn the other way when they passed by.

A single bead of sweat trickled down the side of the Itachi's face, mixing with the blood. He stopped to brush his hair back behind his ear, and sighed lightly before resuming wrapping the bandages. Kisame watched his face for signs of any discomfort as he held the bandage in place for him. It was a funny thing reall, but for a man he had really long eyelashes and rather pink lips at that. The way they pouted was so effeminate. He could easily be mistaken for a woman, after all he was probably attractive enough to fool almost anyone...

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Itachi was _not_ attractive. He was his partner, and a damned terrifying one at that. He could kill on the drop of a pin and torture someone with just his eyes as if they'd been tortured for days in just a matter of seconds. No, the boy was certainly _not_ attractive at all. The shark highly respected him was all. He was only thinking these things simply because his blood was up after the fight and the fact was he hadn't been with anyone for a while...well, a damn _long_ while. Damn it, he really needed to get laid. It wasn't normal to think the partner you had a good ten years on was attractive. And damn it, there was no way in hell it was normal for him to think his partner was sexually appealing in any way, even if he did have really nice abs for being so..._damn it, no! Just stop!_

Kisame forced the thoughts of Itachi from his mind and closed his eyes as the raven finished wrapping the bandages around his body. As soon as Itachi fastened the bandage, Kisame pulled back his hand as if he had been burned by hot coals. Itachi ripped off a small section of bandage and pressed it to the cut across his temple to stem the flow of blood. Once it has lessened, he bandaged it thankfully, without requesting Kisame's help this time.

"We should head back into town." the raven's suggestion cut through the awkward silence that hung in the air between them.

Kisame glanced around for the Uchiha's cloud patterned cloak. Damn it, there wasn't any way they were going to find where his cloak had disappeared to in the dark and he couldn't just let the Uchiha run around without his shirt. The shark shrugged off his cloak and stripped off his own shirt, throwing it at the Uchiha who caught it with a slightly confused look on his face. The older man rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and gave his young partner a crooked grin.

"Can't let you walk into town half naked with some bloody bandages strapped all over you." he managed to force a laugh. "That'd be awfully suspicious looking."

Itachi continued to stare at him incredulously before sliding the shirt over his head and shoulders. Kisame watched as it hid his pale flesh and the bandaged wound, and drowned him in black. Poor kid, the shirt was so huge on him he was practically swimming in it. He cleared his throat awkwardly as he realized he was still standing there shirtless himself and quickly tugged on his cloak, zipping it up swiftly.

"Let us travel to the nearest village...I will relay the information we have gathered in the morning to Leader-sama." the raven said as he began to walk back in the direction they had previously came as if nothing had happened. Still, Kisame could see he was walking a little slower and more tenderly than before.

* * *

><p>Itachi had purchased one of the rooms at the inn they had passed in the rundown town a few miles back. The only one available had a couch and one bed. Kisame, being the gentleman he was, took to the couch that was much too small for his tall stature. Normally, he would have removed his cloak before lying down to sleep but for some reason the idea of being bare-chested in front of his partner slightly bothered him. He brushed it off and leaned back against the couch, watching his Itachi from the corner of his eye. He was sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing the spot where his wound was through the fabric of the shirt.<p>

"You okay?"after seeing the boy nearly ran through with a kunai he felt a little more concerned for his well being than normal. It was rare for Itachi to be wounded or give any sort of hint he was in pain.

"I'm fine, Kisame. Don't trouble yourself over me."

"If you say so..." he wasn't about to press the matter.

"Heeeelllooooooo!" the sudden sound shocked Kisame and he nearly fell off the couch as the shrill cry echoed through the near empty hotel room. He was sure that nearly everyone on their floor had heard the loud greeting through the paper-thin walls.

**"Shut up!"**

He rolled his eyes when he realized it was only Zetsu. No matter how many times he popped up out of nowhere like that, it still gave him the creeps. He couldn't help but feeling that Zetsu was watching them a lot more often than he let on. Did he really just have to barge out of the floor like that? Couldn't he just use a door like normal people? The white side of the plant-nin's mouth was contorted in a crooked grin. He looked especially pleased with himself for some strange reason.

"Itachi-san, that's not your shirt! Why are you wearing Kisame's clothing, hmm? Oooooh, look you ruined your own clothes. Kakuzu-san will not be happy with you, Itachi-san. Money, money, money." the white half of Zetsu happily chimed.

**"Drop it." **the black side, never in the mood for the white's banter, quickly scolded.

"There's no excuse for carelessness..." pouted the white side, not very happy that his other half was ruining his fun.

**"This was to be delivered to you."** black-Zetsu had apparently decided to ignore white-Zetsu's ramblings and reached out a hand towards Itachi. He rose from the bed and took from him a parcel wrapped in brown paper. **"Report your findings to Leader first thing tomorrow morning."**

As quickly as he had come Zetsu disappeared back into the floor, leaving Kisame confused on what was so important that he had to bring Itachi a package in the middle of the night. He turned to face Itachi, who didn't give him a second glance as he disappeared into the bathroom with the parcel. Damn it, what was in it? '_Way to keep me out of the loop...'_ he pouted, not sure why it bothered him so much that his partner had completely ignored his concerned comments and had disregarded the fact that he might like to know what was in the package. Whatever, he wasn't going to waste his time thinking about it. If it wasn't for him, he didn't need to know.

He closed his eyes, drifting in and out of sleep. A strange uneasiness came over him and he opened his eyes, scanning the room. There wasn't a way to tell how much time had passed since he had been sleeping, but Itachi was back in the room with him...sitting directly across from him on the bed, eyes fixated dead on where he was sleeping on the couch. The shark's eyes met Itachi's own crimson ones, holding the gaze for what seemed like a full minute. Finally, he broke the contact when he realized the Uchiha was not about to look away from him. How long had he been asleep? Damn it, and why was Itachi acting so weird. He'd never so much as glanced at him before during a conversation and now he wouldn't stop staring at him. He glanced at his partner again...still staring. What was that look in his eyes? They seemed almost glassy and unfocused.

"Uhmm...Itachi?" he moved into a sitting position and leaned forward, waving his hand in front of the younger man's unblinking eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Kisame?" Itachi hadn't so much as blinked. The raven leaned closer towards him, still not breaking eye contact. "May I ask you something?"

"Yeah, I suppose..." he felt really uneasy. Itachi never, _never_, started a conversation with him. What exactly had been in that parcel?

"Do sharks have two penises?" he asked completely straight faced.

Kisame's eyes widened and he fell back into the couch in complete shock. Why in the **_hell_** was Itachi Uchiha asking him something so damned strange in the middle of the night?

"You seem to know quite a bit about them...obviously," the raven continued, unfazed by Kisame's reaction. "...so do they?"

"Uhhhh...well yes, yes they do..." the older man cleared his throat and turned his head to the side, trying to hide the fact his cheeks were flushed.

"So...do you have two penises then?"

The blue man flushed completely scarlet in embarassment.

"Whaaaaa? Uhhh, n-no, no, no. I-I don't." he stammered stupidly. "Why would you even ask that?"

"I'm just curious." the raven shrugged, his eyes going out of focus and flopped himself back against the bed, crawling up and under the covers. He was asleep almost instantly.

Kisame let out a sigh, relieved that Itachi had gone to sleep and stopped his awkward questioning. Out of all the possible things Itachi could have asked about he just had to ask about _that_. Itachi would have never asked him something so invasive if he had been in a right state of mind. Kisame's thoughts drifted again back to the mysterious parcel. Whatever was in it had to have caused this outburst. Now he was more curious than ever at the contents. Still, he would definitely not be bringing up that conversation the following morning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** _Contrary to what many people believe, Itachi had been dying for a very long time in the show from an unknown disorder. In this fic, I decided to adapt that and bring in medicine developed to prolong his lifespan until he is able to meet with Sasuke once again. Obviously, it has some pretty messed up side effects.  
><em>

_**-Galadraen**_


	4. Chapter 4

****Disclaimer:****_ I do not own Naruto or any of Kishimoto's creations. _

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Four<strong>

No matter how hard he tried, Kisame couldn't manage to fall asleep. The shark tossed and turned, the already uncomfortable couch not making his situation seem any more hopeful. Every single time he found a mildly comfortable position, a lump in the couch would mysteriously pop out of nowhere and he'd roll over again, struggling to find a place where his over-sized body wouldn't feel so cramped. Stretching out was practically impossible, seeing as when he did his legs would hang awkwardly over the side of the couch. He was tempted to throw the 'high out of his mind' Uchiha on the couch and steal the bed for himself. Taking one look at the curled up form of the boy sleeping pleasantly underneath the covers quickly changed his mind. Somehow he didn't think Itachi had restful sleep all that often. He couldn't bring himself to disturb him, no matter how unpleasant his sleeping arrangement was.

When he realized he was probably as comfortable as he was going to get and closed his eyes, images of Itachi helpless with blood dripping from his chin kept filling his mind and making his stomach turn. Seeing him so defenseless...he'd never imagined the Uchiha could ever be in such a state, yet that night he had nearly had his intestines torn through by a surprise attack. If Kisame hadn't been there, what would have happened to him? The thought was swiftly pushed from his mind. For some reason thinking of Itachi in pain made him feel horrible. What the hell had even happened? One moment he was brutally killing enemy-nin, the next he was doubled over and paralyzed with pain, gripping his chest as if his heart was about to burst. What bothered him the most was when the pain subsided he acted as if nothing had happened. It wasn't normal to spontaneously almost cough blood, last time he checked.

Hell, why was it even bothering him this much? It wasn't like Itachi normally told him anything personal, let alone talk to him. Still, he was the raven's partner and had been for years. Shouldn't there be some sort of mutual trust between them beyond that of trusting one another to watch their back's in a battle? Though they seemed to argue often, even Sasori and Deidara had a mutual respect for one another and frequently held conversations about their art. Was he that uninteresting that the raven would rather ignore him than speak to him? Closer...that's all he would have liked them to be.

And after what happened last night, would that even be achievable? Was he even going to bring it up to him? How the hell did you go about telling your partner who had the conversational skills of a brick wall that they had inquired rather crassly about your genitals? Kisame had seen a number of frightening and strange things in his lifetime, but they all seemed to pale in comparison to the look he had seen in Itachi's eyes; so unfocused and almost drunk. The raven haired boy had always been serious and alert. Last night had been terrifying. With those Sharingan eyes boring into his own, he wasn't sure to run for the fear of being put under a genjutsu or suffer being burned to death with black flames or just drop dead on the spot. One thing was for certain, and that was that he would never try to make the Uchiha angry if he was ever in that state again. He prayed that wouldn't happen.

The shark replayed the night in his mind, flushing when he remembered how clumsy and awkward he had acted upon being asked to help Itachi apply his bandages. The older man had never remembered even seeing the Uchiha without his shirt before that time, and he'd sure as hell never remembered Itachi being so _alluring_ before. Perfect porcelain skin, silky black hair, defined muscles...Come to think of it, he'd never noticed much about his partner's appearance before. His eyes had always seen the scrawny sickly looking kid that had joined the Akatsuki as a young teen. Now he couldn't deny how toned and appealing the young Uchiha really was underneath that cloak...damn it, why was he even thinking of those things again? Itachi was his issued partner, nothing more and much younger than he was at that. He brushed a hand through his hair again and sighed. He really needed to get out more.

Speaking of the stoic raven, he was surprisingly still dead asleep and it was already nearing noon. He hadn't bothered to prep himself for bed seeing as he passed out directly after their odd encounter. The Uchiha was sprawled out across the bed, covers kicked down around his knees, tangling awkwardly around his feet, and still swimming in the overly large t-shirt the shark had given him the previous night. Kisame had been up since the early hours of the morning, even after hardly sleeping and had already eaten, showered, cleaned Samehada, paced the room, and about anything else he could think of to keep his mind occupied and off of last night. He was actually pretty surprised he hadn't woken the sleeping boy, seeing as he wasn't exactly the most graceful at times. Earlier, when he had leaned Samehada against the wall it had slipped and fallen to the floor with a loud bang. Cringing, he had glanced at the boy only to see he hadn't even shifted from his position in the covers. Not to mention, he hadn't exactly been quiet on purpose since he had hoped his lumbering around the room would wake up Itachi and he wouldn't be forced to wake him up himself. After his outburst the night before, it didn't seem the best idea to shake him awake. That and he always looked so tired. Maybe he just needed the extra sleep this morning. He seemed to be sleeping very deeply...

It was then an idea popped into Kisame's mind. Itachi hadn't even so much as _twitched_ since Kisame had woken up. If he was careful maybe he could sneak a peek at whatever Zetsu had given him. It was worth a shot. Itachi would probably never tell him what that creepy plant-man had brought him on his own accord and after their awkward conversation the night before, it was killing him to know what was inside.

Kisame pressed his palm to his forehead when he realized he had missed the perfect opportunity. How could he not have noticed that Itachi's hip pouch had been sitting beside the bathroom sink the entire morning? He'd passed it at least half a dozen times while he was pacing!

Rising from the couch he had been lounging on, he slowly crept to the bathroom and opened the door, being wary to not make any noise that could wake the sleeping Uchiha. The pouch was just where he had remembered it, resting on the corner of the porcelain sink. He closed the door and popped open the flap of the little pouch. Inside was a small unmarked white bottle among a few other things. Carefully picking them up, he popped off the lid and spilled a few of the contents into his hand: white pills. So he had been right. Itachi wasn't acting normal because he had been under the influence of some sort of medication. But what was it? Pain pills? He wasn't a complete idiot. They had to be for whatever had happened last night. What was Itachi not telling him? A thousand questions ran through his mind. Popping the pills back into the bottle he placed them back into the pouch and returned them to their sitting place alongside the sink and exited the bathroom.

Itachi was sitting straight up in bed staring directly at him when he emerged.

"I-Itachi?" the shark quietly asked, unsure if he was going to get a repeat of the night before and more strange and inappropriate questions. Hadn't the effects of whatever was in that little white bottle worn off by now? Swallowing his anxiety, he took a step towards his partner. "You okay there?"

"Huh?" snapping out of his confusion, the raven untangled his feet from the covers and slid to sit on the edge of the bed. "Yes, I'm fine..."

"You sure?" Kisame wasn't entirely convinced.

The Uchiha was silent for a few moments, staring down at his over-sized clothing, before answering him with his own question, "Why am I in your shirt, Kisame?"

"Well, I gave it to you since you didn't have one to wear after last night..." this caused the raven to raise an eyebrow and the shark to blush furiously. "No-no, I-I mean I couldn't just let you walk around naked... After you were injured! Your shirt...it was ripped up. Wait...don't you remember?"

"No...I suppose I don't." Itachi stared into his lap.

"You don't remember questioning that nin? Getting attacked? Or..." Kisame hesitated, unsure if he should bring up his bloody coughing fit...or strange outburst.

"I remember that. Do not worry, I haven't forgotten the information I gathered."

The shark nervously ran a hand through his navy blue hair, willing himself to just ask his younger partner about the container of pills in the bathroom and Zetsu's unexpected visit. He had never been one to pry into others' business and personal affairs. Since when was it his problem if someone was having a rough patch in their life or with their health? He'd only ever gave a damn about himself, but his growing concern for Itachi was pushing those thoughts further into the back of his mind. He should care shouldn't he? If he should care about anyone at all, it should at least be the person he had become closest too...even if they weren't all that close.

"What about..." he began, before cutting himself short. Damn it, his nerves had already started to get him, his hands shaking slightly.

"Yes?"

"Ah, never mind... It's nothing. We had better report to Leader-sama before he gets annoyed. He probably isn't happy we are late reporting to him."

"You have never been much of a liar, Kisame." those crimson eyes were boring into his own again, and he couldn't bring himself to look away this time. He might not be an expert at reading Itachi, but he was almost positive the raven could read him like a book after all their years together. And hell, he was right. He never had been good at lying.

"Are you...sick?" the question came out before he could even think to stop himself and keep up his charade. If it was even possible, Itachi's eyes seem to grow a deeper red as they narrowed. The tension in the room grew thick as heavy fog and Kisame knew what was to follow couldn't be good.

"Did you look through my things?" Itachi questioned with his voice like ice, sending chills down the shark's spine.

Kisame gulped, knowing he couldn't have been any more obvious even if he had held up a sign exclaiming, 'Hey you were sleeping so I rummaged through your stuff because I'm a nosy bastard and too chicken to just ask you what's wrong in the first place.' _'Just lie. Just lie.'_ he told himself. '_Play dumb. You're an idiot for even thinking you could get away with looking through his things without him knowing. He might believe it...damned idiot...'_

"What are you talking about?" the shark feigned innocence.

"Did you look in it?"

"W-what...I just took a shower and..." he trailed off again knowing whatever reason he was going to conjure up probably wasn't a good idea.

Kisame had no words to describe the look of rage on the Uchiha's face. He supposed this was what he deserved for so desperately trying to elicit a reaction from him. Itachi had rose from his seat on the bed and stomped towards his larger partner. Startled, the shark took a step backwards. The enraged raven snatched the front of his cloak as he was about to take another step backwards and forcefully pulled him to eye level, their faces only inches apart. Kisame was almost sure he could see flames burning behind those crimson orbs. Still, even though his younger partner seemed poised to maim or perhaps even kill him, he couldn't help but notice how delicate his features were...and how his cheeks were slightly flushed in anger with his lips parted ever so slightly. And how heavily his own heart pounded in his chest...and how close Itachi's face was to his...

"Those are my personal belongings." the Uchiha fumed, tightening his grip on Kisam's cloak and still not breaking eye contact. "What did you see?"

"Just...look, I was worried about you alright?" Kisame reached up to touch the hand grasping his cloak.

Itachi slapped away the intruding hand and pushed his larger partner away, turning his back to the shark, and went to stand in front of the window. They stood there in the silence for some time before either one of them spoke. "Don't push yourself into situations that do not concern you."

The words he should say seemed to escape him as Kisame stood there dumbstruck. Why had he reached up to touch his hand? He felt that it wasn't in attempts to push away Itachi. In fact, if anything he had felt that he wanted to pull him closer. And why did it surprise him that the raven's hand had been pleasantly warm? Itachi wasn't so emotionless that he was the walking dead. He stared down at his hand, the lingering warmth still fresh in his mind.

"I'm sorry." was all he could think to say.

Itachi's back remained turned towards him and he showed no sign of acknowledging his prescense. Kisame forced a grin and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I know I'm the one who needs more beauty sleep and all and you usually are dragging me out of bed...but you looked kinda, I don't know...peaceful? I would have felt bad waking you."

"Just don't."

Itachi moved farther away from the shark and crossed his arms, still staring blankly out the window. Kisame could feel his blood begin to boil. Why was he even letting some kid order him around or treat him like dirt in the first place? Clenching his fists tightly he took a few steps toward the Uchiha.

"You're my partner, I have the right to ask you." Kisame could feel his temper rising higher. "What if that happens again and I'm not fast enough and you _die_? Or worse, what if you get me killed because you can't back me up? Don't you even trust me? What exactly did Zetsu give you last night?"

"It's none of your concern."

"It's not _my_ concern?" Kisame was tired of screaming at a wall. "It's not _my_ concern if you cause us to fail a mission because it happens again. It's not _my_ concern if you get _me_ killed!"

"Just drop it."

"I'm not going to drop it until you tell me. You started acting really fucking weird last night! You wouldn't stop staring at me and you starting asking me really weird questions..." Itachi turned to face him at these words, almost looking surprised. The anger Kisame had initially felt began to subside now that the raven was at least acknowledging his presence once again. "Don't you even remember any of last night? And what the hell happened to you? You started coughing up blood for fuck's sake! Are you just going to act like that didn't happen? And then after Zetsu brought you those pills you acted high out of your damn mind! What is wrong with you?"

"I'm just sick. Don't concern yourself with it."

The shark's heart sunk in his chest as if dragged down the world's heaviest anchor. So he had been sick after all. But the more important question was how long had be been sick? How long had he been hiding it from him? And why hadn't he noticed sooner? "How sick are you?"

"I'll be fine, Kisame." and these words the shark willed himself to believe.

"I-I'm sorry." he stammered, staring at his feet. "...I'm just worried about you."

"I know."

* * *

><p><em><strong>-Galadraen<strong>_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Naruto or any of Masashi Kishimoto's characters. _

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Five<strong>

"Another mission already?" Kisame grumbled, glancing over at the blue haired woman who had just arrived, from his position on the couch in the Akatsuki lair's main sitting room. They had been back only a day or so and already Konan had come with details for their next mission. He wasn't as much aggravated about being disturbed from lazing about, but rather that his partner's wound surely would still be bothering him some since it hadn't had enough time to heal properly. The Uchiha hadn't been walking around as gingerly as before, but he still didn't want to see him in any pain or discomfort.

"Direct orders from Pein-sama." Konan answered, handing the raven a small scroll tied closed with a red ribbon. "He is not here to convey the details of this mission to you himself. Please go over the details and if you have questions...or concerns please address them to me immediately."

Taking the scroll from the blue haired woman, Itachi unrolled it and began to read. His expression went from his usual stoic gaze to immediate furrowed eyebrows. Kisame gulped nervously, knowing this mission must be a difficult one if it was able to jar Itachi's nerves, even in the slightest.

"This...is uncalled for. I refuse it." was the raven's answer when he finally looked up from the scroll. His voice was filled with hostility and he shoved the scroll back towards Konan.

"You cannot simply decline a direct ord..."

"It is degrading!" interrupted the raven, eyes alight with anger, his voice cold. The older man had never seen him this defensive before.

"_Degrading_ or not, it is what you have been ordered to do." Konan replied, unwavering as she attempted to hand the scroll back to his partner.

Kisame stood, mouth agape at the arguing pair. It was rare to see Itachi ever feel so strong against something that he would show so much raw displeasure. Whatever it was, they couldn't just deny a mission from their leader without a legitimate reason. And damn, what was it that bothered the Uchiha so much to decline a mission?

"I'm sure it's not that bad, Itachi." the shark said as he rose from the couch, taking the scroll from the blue angel, and shooting him an encouraging grin before looking down and beginning to read the contents.

"Oh..." was all he could manage to stammer out. "O-oh..."

Kisame didn't know whether to praise his great luck or pray Itachi didn't murder Konan on the spot for giving him such an..._embarrassing_ task.. The mission had been a continuation of their previous, but more in depth.

After their last mission Itachi had relayed the details he had managed to force from the Takigakure-nin before he was injured. They had not truly infiltrated Iwagakure at all, but simply had made a pact with a few of the ninja in the village who disagreed with their Tsuchikage. They were to retrieve as much information on the countries financial state, strengths, weaknesses, and anything else that might be useful to Takigakure. Their reward would come whenever they decided to attempt to invade the larger country, if the day ever were to come...which to Kisame seemed highly unlikely. Still, Iwagakure must be extremely paranoid to react this rashly.

The mission seemed simple enough; since they had been on a mission directly from Iwagakure they had been invited to a very formal council in which they were to be in disguise and search out any Iwagakure traitors, interrogate and then exterminate them. The only catch was this was a formal dinner and council for distinguished couples, therefore the Akatsuki needed to send one of the partner pairs. And by the orders, they were to send a male and a female. Or in their case, a male and a male who could look like a female. That meant he would be escorting a very beautiful dolled-up Uchiha on a prestigious trip to Iwakagure. Besides the interrogating, murdering, and possible torture it seemed like a pretty cushy mission. And he got to see _that_. The shark tried his hardest not to blush at the idea of his partner dressed in a fine silks, hair loose against his shoulders, light makeup dusting his cheeks...

He still wasn't quite so sure why that excited him or why thoughts of his partner had begun to overcrowd his mind lately, but he certainly wasn't at all upset at the prospect of this mission or it's details.

"It's...not...so bad." he sounded anything but convincing and he knew it.

"There is no one else for the mission." Konan said, almost begging the pair.

"Why must I dress as a woman? There are many couples of the same sex in the ninja world. It is not such a strange thing."

"However, it is known that there is only one woman in the Akatsuki." argued Konan. "Kisame is conspicuous enough, though his look is not completely uncommon where he is from. But to have a male couple infiltrate would be making your real identities much too obvious. Is the prospect of dressing as a woman so insulting to you Itachi? I was not aware to be a woman was an insult."

"My apologies." Itachi replied, and Kisame was surprised to see that he was actually genuine. "It is not an insult to be a woman. I am simply...uncomfortable with the prospect of this mission. It will hinder my performance."

"Well, Itachi, a bit of embarrassment never killed anyone." she said, smirking slightly.

"Uhh...well, Deidara looks like more of a girl than Itachi does!" the shark burst out, catching the ferocious glare his partner had directed towards, him he quickly made an attempt to rephrase himself. "I-I mean, he has that long blonde hair! Easily mistakable for a woman if you ask me...unlike Itachi here. And hey, why can't you just do it? You're a lady aren't you Konan?"

"Obviously, Kisame...but I do not leave Pein's side unless necessary. I remain in Amegakure by his side unless ordered otherwise. The only time I leave his side is to relay missions, supplies, and anything else our members need directly to base. Since this mission is to be done is secret in Iwagakure it would be foolish to send Deidara and Sasori, seeing as Deidara is a known terrorist in that nation. We may be working for them, but it would be asinine to send one of their former shinobi. The Iwakagure higher-ups are the only ones who will know of your presence. This is your mission, please accept it and complete it without an ymore complaints. He chose you two for a reason."

"Hidan and Kakuzu?" the shark grinned hopefully.

Konan raised an eyebrow. "And that would be even more foolish...possibly the worst option of all."

Kisame chuckled a bit at the thought of the grumpy albino in a dress slinging around curse words and being anything but lady-like and the tall masked man trying to wrangle him and force him to behave himself. Tables would be flipped, glasses broken, silverware thrown along with curses, and that's only what might happen if the old man managed to keep his own horrible temper under control long enough to subdue his raging partner. Not to mention, the older man's mask was suspicious enough as is and the priest was built far to manly to be shoved into a kimono or dress. He wasn't as lithe and androgynous as Itachi. Still, he didn't see why they had to be dragged into this kind of mission. The shark may have been a gentleman when it was called for but he just didn't do fancy events. Hopefully, Itachi was more skilled at this sort of thing.

"C'mon Itachi, you don't think I'll look good in a dress or something?" joked the shark, in attempts to erase his young partner's scowl. The death glare he received was enough to send chills down his spine. "We can't just deny an order from our leader, and you know not any idiot can do this mission. I even promise I won't laugh at you..."

_Not that he would anyway...not staring uncontrollably with a dopey grin on his face...he couldn't promise that one.  
><em>

The Uchiha sighed and snatched the scroll back, reading over the details once again before pocketing it.

"Fine."

"Oh, good. I knew you'd see it our way." Konan said with a light smile before fading into scraps of paper and floating out of the hideout.

"I can't believe I am doing this..." the raven muttered before stalking off to his room.

"Me either..."

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><p>*%*%*%*%*<p>

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><p>The trip was just as cushy as the shark had imaged it would be. No walking, no carrying any extra equipment. They even were supplied with drinks and meals on the way. Damned Iwagakure must have been in a tight bind with the whole traitor situation to call on the Akatsuki for one, but to treat them like royalty was a whole different matter.<p>

The village was set back in the cliffs of the mountains, all the buildings being carved completely from stone. Many waterfalls and streams ran through the village, cutting paths through the rocks with many stone bridges connecting each building. They were taken to an entrance at the base of the Tsuchikage's main building and to their dwelling quarters where they would be staying until the following night's function. Kisame was surprised at by how respectfully they had been treated, though that respect may have just been out of the fear the Iwagakure-nin had for the two missing-nin. The fact he was a ridiculously buff, tall sharkman probably had something to do with it as well. Their ninja escorts eyed Itachi suspiciously as they led them to their room. Surely they had been told that they had hired a male and _female_ Akatsuki for this task...either they knew Itachi was male or they were still trying to figure it out.

Kisame was surprised to see they had been provided with a rather cozy room. The shark didn't know whether to count his lucky stars or curse the fact he may be sleeping on the floor that night when he saw they had provided them with only one bed. The mission was for a _couple_ after all, it was only logical that they provide a suited area for one. Still, how was he going to bring this up when he actually wanted to fall asleep? Maybe he'd just crawl in and fall asleep before Itachi did so he wouldn't have to deal with it. Then Itachi would either have to sleep next to him, or take the floor if he didn't feel comfortable with it. Besides only having one bed, the bathroom was extremely small, and had just enough room for the essentials and a large thick paper screen had been set up in the corner of the room for changing.

The former Mist-nin decided to make himself at home, kicking off his sandals and Akatsuki issued leg warmers. Propping Samehada against the wall, he went sit down against the headboard on the bed. It wasn't too late, but perhaps getting to bed as early as possible was a good idea seeing the awkward situation he might find himself in if he waited too long. He glanced over to see Itachi pulling the trunk that Konan had provided them with during her visit to the base behind the dressing screen. The shark assumed it probably had some more formal clothing for them to wear amongst other necessities they might need for the mission. Kisame heard Itachi fling open the the trunk and groan with detest. In his hands he held a long flowing piece of red fabric that Kisame assumed could only be what he was being forced to wear tomorrow night.

"As much as I detest the idea of wearing this, I should make sure I know how to wear it and move in it properly before tomorrow night."

He slung a kimono over the screen and stepped to change behind it. A light shone from behind the screen causing the shadows to dance about on it's surface. Try as he might, the shark couldn't distract himself from watching his partner's shadow dance upon the screen, slowly undressing. He watched with anticipation as the cloak dropped off, followed by the raven's shirt. The shadow hesitated for a moment, a hand brushing against his wound from days prior before going to remove the rest of his clothing. Kisame silently willed the screen to fall as he watched the Uchiha begin dressing again. He stopped once again, obviously having trouble tying the obi himself. Perhaps he should volunteer? No, that'd look strange. Not to mention make it completely obvious he had been watching him dress this whole time.

He'd never noticed Itachi like this before...why now? Perhaps it was the fact he hadn't been with anyone for quite a while, or perhaps it was simply that he had to admit that his partner was rather attractive. If he was forced to walk alongside him day after day, year after year, he might as well take advantage of the view and the time they spent with one another. At least he didn't have the mysterious masked Kakuzu or the ever creepy Zetsu as a partner. Itachi might not be the biggest ball of joy, but he was sure that he had lucked out compared to the other organization member's situations.

Finally after what seemed like forever, the Uchiha's soft voice could be heard from behind the screen and jolted him from his thoughts. "This is horrible..."

"Just come out already." encouraged the older man, "I won't laugh at you."

"I... I don't like this. Not at all."

Kisame's jaw dropped as Itachi stepped out from behind the screen. Before him stood the pale raven robed in a flowing red silk kimono detailed finely with small leaves and flowers. The way it hung loosely from his frame, you would hardly be able to guess he was a man. Itachi held himself awkwardly, still unsure of how to walk in the geta sandals that he currently wore without stepping on any of the fabric as he walked. Instead of his usual pulled back hair it was clipped up high on his head, dropping down in a messy look, topped off with two red chopsticks crossed through the clip. He looked simply _breath-taking_. What surprised him even more was the uncharacteristic blush that adorned his partner's fair cheeks. The Uchiha fidgeted uncertainly with the sleeves of the kimono, eyes focused on the ground, seemingly too shy to even dare look at his partner.

"You look..." the shark resisted the urge to say _gorgeous_, _amazing, beautiful_, amongst other words that were dashing through his mind. Instead he settled with something far more neutral, "...just fine, Itachi."

"I feel...ridiculous." he plopped down besides the shark with a huff, still frowning deeply.

"Oh c'mon it can't be that bad."

"That's easy for you to say...you're not the one dressed as a woman."

"I'm sure glad I'm not. I'd be the ugliest damned girl you've ever laid eyes on! Don't be so glum, Itachi. I bet you'll be prettier than all the girls there!" he chuckled with his signature grin. "I'll have to watch out or someone will snatch you up when I'm not looking."

**Death glare.**

"I-I'm just kidding!" he laughed more, shielding himself with his hands just in case the raven decided to throw a heavy sandal at him. The Uchiha sighed and rested his cheek in the palm of his hand, elbow propped on his knee.

"Are you prepared for this, Kisame?"

Was he? It wasn't like any other mission they had ever been on, but it was still a mission none the less. But with the way his palms were sweating and him shaking, he was hoping he wouldn't be the one to fuck it all up. He had imagined this would be a hard mission on Itachi, not himself, but seeing Itachi as he was now made him second guess himself.

"I've never done anything like this before. I'm the brawn, not the brains. I've never had to do something like this..."

"Do you know proper etiquette for these situations?"

"Proper...what?

Itachi sighed and spent the next twenty minutes going over proper greeting and dinner etiquette to him. All the details of the 'dos' and don'ts' of formal dinner manners were making the shark's brain numb. It didn't help matters that his partner looked completely jaw-dropping and he couldn't stop staring at him long enough to actually _focus_ on what he was saying. How the hell did Itachi know all this anyway? At least he was talking to him...come to think of it this was probably one of the longest conversations they had actually had.

"How am I supposed to keep an eye out for a possible traitor or spy when I'm too busy remembering all these damn rules?" he grumbled, throwing himself back on the bed in frustration, eyes focused on the ceiling.

"You do not need to worry about that. Focus on not offending our employers." voiced his partner. "My eyes do not miss much, you know that. Just watch your drink. There is a high possibility that these traitors are aware of our presence and may try to drug or poison us."

"Thanks, Itachi. You're _so_ reassuring..."

"Do you...by any chance know how to dance?" this question hit the shark like a ton of bricks.

"What?"

"Let me assume that you don't know how to dance?" the Uchiha seemed almost baffled by this small fact. "Not at all?"

"Not even the slightest hint. Why the hell would I?" he scoffed. Dancing didn't have a spot on the shark's list of favourite things to do. It was just something he flat out didn't do. "Do I look like the _dancing_ type to you? Yeah, Itachi...didn't you know I'm a ballerina? Honestly..."

The Uchiha ignored his cocky comments, "This is a social event. You may be forced to."

"No way in hell."

"Just let me show you." Kisame was jolted back to reality when he felt a warm hand take his, leading him up and away from the bed.

"O-okay..." was all he could say seeing as he was too focused on the hand that was holding his own. He moved behind the Uchiha as if being controlled by puppet's strings.

They reached a more open space in the center of the room and Itachi immediately took the lead.

"Place your hands here." the shark flushed as Itachi took his hand and placed it on his slender hip, motioning him to do the same with his other hand.

Kisame nervously placed his hand on the Uchiha's hip, feeling the warmth that immediately began to radiate into his palm. No matter how many times he had touched the younger man over the past few days he still couldn't get over how warm he was. The cold demeanor and scowl he usually wore would have anyone second guessing that blood even pumped through his frigid heart. The shark felt warm arms wrap around his neck and the silky fabric of the kimono fall across his chest and nearly gasped. As Itachi linked his fingers together behind his neck, he took a step closer to his older partner, pulling them together. It was surprising that the Uchiha could even fully reach seeing as he towered over him by almost an entire foot.

"This is the easiest and most common way to_ 'slow dance'_ and you should have no problem with it." the raven stated matter-of-factly, as if he was teaching the shark geography or something from a textbook.

Kisame felt like an idiot after the first few seconds. Not only could he not stop shaking and nearly crushing his poor partners toes, the raven was having his own troubles figuring out the sandals, but the difference in size was also not helping. Not to mention the idea of being this close to his partner, arms around his waist was encouraging some very provocative thoughts to surface. He chased them to the corner of his mind and tried to focus on the situation at hand. _'Focus. Kisame...focus.'_ he attempted to encourage himself, focusing on his movements.

"Now who feels like the idiot...we'll be the perfect match..."

Though it was faint, Kisame swore he heard the raven chuckle.

"And sometimes..." without warning, his younger partner pressed close against the shark, resting his head on his broad chest. The shark let out an audible gasp of surprise, though Itachi seemed to not hear it or just chose not to respond to it. "You can just be close like this. And sway. It's all the same really."

No. This was definitely **_NOT_** the same...it was not the same _at_ _all_. The closeness they currently shared was almost too much to handle. Kisame rested his chin on top of the the Uchiha's silky black head and slid his left hand around to rest on his back, bringing him in even closer to his body. Itachi's scent was almost intoxicating; something that smelled faintly of flowers and fresh clean clothing along with something else he couldn't quite place. Feeling slightly more daring, he inclined his neck so that his cheek was now resting against the raven's silky hair. Marveling at how soft it felt against his skin, he was almost tempted to reach up and bury his hands in the silky strands. They swayed together to no music at all, the shark completely lost in his partner's warmth. Being so close to him was almost, comforting. His own chest felt warm and heavy...but with what? What were these feelings that had overcome him so suddenly? It felt safe having him here in his arms. Nothing could touch him...nothing could harm him. Hmm...maybe he could get used to this whole _dancing_ thing.

"You can let go of me now, Kisame. We're done." these words jarred him from his fantasy world and he let go quickly, pushing back from his raven. "You should be able to get by with just that."

"Oh, uh...yeah. Sorry." stumbling over his words, he retreated to sit back on the bed. He looked away, trying to conceal his flushed cheeks.

"I'm taking this off." Itachi muttered and fled behind the screen.

Things were going to get a lot more awkward if he didn't act quickly. The shark slipped off his shirt and crawled under the covers of the bed, propping himself up enough and grabbing whatever book was closest to the bed so that he could pretend to read it and ignore the raven. It was too early to just pretend to be asleep. He sighed a sigh of relief when his partner emerged from behind the screen clothed in his normal ninja garb and went straight to shower. Hopefully he took a long enough time in the shower so that it would be convincing if he just "fell asleep". He could only hope.

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><p><strong>AN:**_ Fanart for this chapter can be found on tsukikokyochi's deviantART account._

_**-Galadraen**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **_Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I don't own anything or make any profits._

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Six<strong>

As soon as the bathroom door swung shut, Kisame retreated to hide under the covers. Screw the fact it was early, he didn't want to have to sit and suffocate in the thick, awkward tension with the Itachi for any longer. He couldn't believe what an idiot he had been, holding him like that. Why had he brought him so close to his body and buried his face in his hair? Stupid, stupid, stupid. And not to mention creepy. Damn it, why had he even allowed the Uchiha to "teach him to dance" in the first place? As soon as that hand had grabbed his, his brain just seemed to stop functioning. But, being so close to him had been...everything he had dreamed it would be. Still, it had just made these feelings worse. If he didn't understand them before, he definitely didn't now.

Kisame hadn't ever really been attracted to men before, so why now? Sure when he was younger he had been curious a time or two to know his way around the ballpark, but it hadn't kept him interested enough to stick around. Women had always been his forte, but with Itachi it was different. He was so...powerful. Unattainable almost. Was that what attracted him so much to the younger boy? Perhaps it was the power he held? Yet, even though he was ungodly powerful and strong he still had human needs, urges...desires. He longed to bring that side of Itachi to the surface. To be the person he could rely on for those urges. To be one of the only people to see him at one of his weakest moments.

As he heard the bathroom door creak open, the shark snapped his eyes shut and evened his breathing to give the affect he had been asleep for quite some time. His heart was pounding so heavily that he could hardly hear as Itachi approached the bed and was almost sure he'd be able to guess he wasn't asleep, even if he was too polite to say anything. Though, as the Uchiha approached the shark could tell that his stance seemed, off somehow. Almost as if he was staggering, a drunken walk even. Then the raven abruptly stopped. Judging by how many steps the older man had counted, he was standing directly next to the bed. Breathing slowly, the shark willed his heart to slow down before it burst from his chest. What was the raven doing over there? The shark was half tempted to "_roll over in his sleep_" and try to sneak a peak at what was going on. Perhaps he was only contemplating whether or not to just sleep on the floor?

A rustling of fabric; judging by the sound of clothing hitting the floor, Itachi had stripped off his shirt. Next came the fishnet-like undershirt. Kisame heard a hiss of a zipper and then the raven's pants were on the floor along with the rest of his outfit. Seconds seemed like minutes as the older man waited, still willing his heart to be calm. Kisame nearly had a heart attack and he stifled a gasp when the covers were pulled back and a near naked Itachi crawled into bed beside him.

And then a leg brushed against his. And then a hand fell across his arm, fingers accidentally trailing down his abdomen. Had it really been that long that such a small and meaningless touch had him fully aroused and eager for release? Oh how he ached to just turn over and caress the raven's milky white skin. To kiss along those collarbones. The hand that had brushed his arm accidentally rubbed against his thigh and the shark hissed. If only he could have those hands all over his body and not just these little touches.

"_Damn it...I can't do this. I need to think of something else...something...really unsexy._" the shark thought, urging the ache between his legs away. "_Uhhhh, what about...Zetsu naked? Is he really split black and white...everywhere? Damn it, that's creepy as hell! I need rubbing alcohol for my brain now...shit, still not enough. What about...Kakuzu naked...with Hidan? Fuck, if that's not a boner-killer, what is?_"

"S-sasuke?"

Kisame almost instantly forgot his dilemma at the raven's rambling. Sasuke? Wait, wasn't that Itachi's younger brother? What had caused him to call out to him now? He must have taken a dose of the medicine he had received from Zetsu and was hallucinating. Remembering how strange he had acted the first time, anything was possible. He really hoped he wouldn't have to deal with more awkward questions...

"Sasuke, where...where is he?" the voice seemed almost strained and uneasy. Worried, even. Try as he might, the older man couldn't just ignore it.

Kisame casually rolled over and opened his eyes ever so slightly, trying to stay inconspicuous. Itachi's eyes were closed, eyebrows furrowed together. A single line of sweat trickled down his pale forehead. Already, he was dead asleep.

"You let him?...but it's been over twelve hours...how could..." he trailed off, squirming in his sleep, rubbing against the shark unintentionally.

"Itachi, are you okay?"

"You can't leave him out there that long by himself. He is young and foolish. He'll train until exhaustion." he murmured, rolling so he body was now pressed against the shark. "Little brother, you over do yourself..."

"Hey. Hey, wake up." he reached out to touch the raven's shoulder, gently shaking him.

"Uhhh..." the soft moan sent chills down Kisame's spine. Subconsciously, he let his hand wander, trailing down the Uchiha's smooth, toned arm. It was hard to resist the urge to let it wander on it's own over that beautiful skin, but to take advantage of him while he was in such a state would be dishonorable.

The raven's eyes shot open and Kisame quickly pulled his hand back as if the pale flesh had burned him. Still, the raven said nothing. His eyes unfocused and hazy, his Sharingan absent just as before. The silky black hair he so often kept pulled back hung loose around his shoulders. He seemed to not noticed that his body was pressed closely against his partner's. "Kisame, where did the lights go?" he muttered, reaching out to touch the pale blue-grey skin of Kisame's cheek. "Oh, you're there. Yeah...'night."

He _had_ to have taken that medicine again. There was no way a sober Itachi would actually crawl into bed with him nearly completely naked and willingly touch him. The little raven smiled lightly and rolled over, snuggling back under the covers and closed his eyes. A smile...yeah, he was definitely high out of his fucking mind again. Still, he looked so...peaceful, and hell, he even would venture to say he looked mildly happy. Still, right now his body didn't yearn just to see his face smiling...but ached to see it contorted in pleasure, panting, eyes squeezed shut as he moaned at his touch...the feeling of the raven's body against his own had been too much for him.

"Damn it." he murmured, rising from his place next to Itachi to head into the bathroom. The raven didn't so much as stir from his place under the blankets.

Kisame mentally cursed himself. Had he really been reduced to this? Pathetic and slumped against the wall, touching himself to thoughts of his longtime partner and emotional void, Itachi Uchiha? The man whose sex drive he was sure was that of a cactus? How had he made him so...weak? In his presence he was reduced to a stumbling wreck; an idiot who couldn't tell left from right. Every time those eyes met his, the heart in his chest fluttered with excitement. Why the hell was this happening now? Out of all the people in the world, why the hell was it _him_?

He was too aroused to let his mind focus on such things for long. The shark groaned and let the thoughts of anger be pushed away by those of Itachi. His smooth ivory skin, those big dark eyes...the feel of that dark silky hair splayed across his lap, the Uchiha's head between his legs taking him into his hot mouth. There was something so appealing about the raven submitting to his will, allowing himself to be touched and teased. Something so alluring at the thought of that normally stoic face, flushed, eyes filled with lust and responding to ever single one of his caresses. Kisame tightened his grip on his swollen member, working himself closer to the edge. Thoughts of Itachi rampaged in his brain; the raven's lips against his skin, stripping down in front of him, the sound of him gasping with pleasure as he thrusted into his tight entrance. Most of all he wanted to see those soft lips upturned in a smile as he basked in the afterglow. It didn't take long to reach release. He gasped, stroking himself to completion, cumming hard on his abdomen and hand. He let himself rest there for a while, his knees almost feeling weak from the pleasure.

After cleaning himself up, he slumped his body back against the wall, hanging his head. What was happening to him? Itachi had more power over him than just his damn deadly eyes. This feeling was one he just couldn't shake and it frightened him. He couldn't be in lo-...no. He wasn't. He'd never been before in his entire life. He was simply infatuated was all. He'd get over it in time. It'd pass. Fuck, he needed to get to a brothel or something. This was pathetic. He couldn't keep letting himself stumble around like a blubbering, gawking idiot every time Itachi so much as looked at him. The shark fisted his hands in his dark navy hair in frustration. If they failed this mission because he screwed it all up acting like a lovesick idiot, he was done for. "_This settles it. Focus on the mission. Afterwards I'll get myself some damned release so I'll stop focusing on him..._"

Pulling himself together, the shark went back out into the bedroom. The Uchiha was cuddled under the blankets in the exact same position he had left him in. For a moment the older man debated sleeping on the floor or in one of the chairs in the room, but couldn't bring himself to do so. It wouldn't hurt to sleep next to him just this once,would it? After all, needed to be well rested for tomorrow...

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><p>*%*%*%*%*%*<p>

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><p>Kisame thanked his lucky stars that he didn't wake up with the raven in his arms. He did however audibly curse as he noticed the body hidden under the covers move to sit up shortly after he had finished getting dressed. He was hoping the medicine would have knocked Itachi out cold for half the day like it had before. The less interaction with him, the better. Staying focused on the mission was top priority...even if he really had no idea what or who they were looking for...or what he was even supposed to do seeing as he was the brawn of the mission, not the brains.<p>

"Kisame...why am I almost naked?" were the first words out of the younger man's mouth. Just great. He had completely forgotten Itachi was near naked and had been sleeping in bed with him. _'Way to look even more creepy, Kisame.'_

"Don't ask me, no idea." he muttered, stone-faced and doing his best to not even look at the boy. "You're the one who crawled into bed with me like that..."

"I...do not recall doing that."

"Did you take those pills again? I told you they make you really weird."

"I..."

A loud thumping at the door interrupted the Uchiha. Defensively, he pulled the covers close to him to hide his naked body, motioning for his partner to answer the door. Kisame grumbled something about 'interrupting bastards' but obliged. Pulling open the door, the shark was greeted by a set of scrawny Iwagakure twins dressed in all black, whose only feature that could be used to tell them apart was one of the twin's green left eye, that seemed so out of place amongst their matching blue gems. The one with mismatched eyes was smiling mischievously, though his doppelganger seemed quite the contrary.

"Oi, let us in already." the one with the off coloured eyes huffed, pushing past the shark-nin who was easily twice the size of him.

The one with matching eyes sighed deeply as his brother pushed past the large man and into the room. He instantly claimed a seat for himself, glancing over to observe the half naked Itachi, who by this point was looking annoyed to the brink of murdering the kid.

"Sorry to interrupt ya two, but we got important business to discuss." he grinned, and looked back to give Itachi another once over. "Though, I'm a bit surprised ya managed to snag yourself one so pretty with your..._complexion_ and all."

Outside the door the sandy haired twin had his face in his palm, shaking his head with disappointment. "Excuse my younger brother. We are here to brief you on tonight's function."

"Get on with it." Kisame huffed, obviously aggravated, as the other twin passed by to stand next to his brother.

"First, let me introduce my brother and I. I am the eldest of the Hidaka twins, Ichiro. This is my younger brother, Jiro. As you have been told, there is a traitor amoungst us here in the Tsuchikage's court. Finding him has proven easier said than done for our men. We have suffered many casualties. The Tsuchikage himself was tempted to have every last one of us exterminated and a new court established, but thankfully chose otherwise when he realized how many of our number he could lose if he did so, not to mention the political outrage it would cause. Hiring the two of you is our last option. If you fail, we may just all be killed and replaced anyways."

"Go on..." Kisame was liking this younger brother less and less. Watching him from the corner of his eye, he could tell the twin hadn't taken his eyes off Itachi since he had taken his seat. The scanned his young partner mercilessly. Over the past weeks he had grown rather possessive of his young partner, but this blatant disrespect for Itachi disgusted him.

"I do not know the abilities of those who are in Akatsuki, but I have been reassured that you can complete this task."

"Oi, wait a second!" the younger twin, Jiro burst out suddenely, rising from his seat to point a finger at Itachi. "That there ain't no lady! I'm dead sure it's a man! No offense to you big guy, to each his own and all, but didn't the mission request say we needed a man and a _lady_, not some bloke in a dress? "

"That isn't any of your concern as long as we are capable of completing our mission." the Uchiha snapped back.

"Easy now! Cross-dressin' ain't my thing...but if you can pull it off and not get killed, by all means go on ahead sassy-pants." Jiro laughed. "It did take me a bit to figure out you weren't a lady after all. You may have a chance."

"Jiro...if you have only come with me to taunt our guests, then leave." scolded the elder borther, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Akatsuki would not have sent these two if they were not capable."

"Oi, you're no fun brother..." Jiro pouted and slumped back into the chair.

"They are here to _help_ us, but I would not hesitate to bet money that the larger of the two could snap your head off in an instant if he so wished." Ichiro replied, his gaze falling on Kisame. "And if you don't watch you mouth about his...errm..._partner_, he may just do that. And, if you annoy the to the point that they leave, we will _both_ die. So do watch your tongue, brother. I rather like being alive."

"Fine, fine, fine. Anyhow. Look, tonight around six we'll be up here to take you down to one of the lower hallways and escort ya to the main entrance hall. It ain't far so you better be ready when we come to get ya."

"The Tsuchikage has organized a formal dinner and council to discuss our countries current state of affairs and trading policies. Many prestigious couples and figures have been invited. While this may be a means to lure out our traitor to our most important discussion, it is also a legitimate business meeting. Please conduct yourselves properly. Your main goal is to do...whatever it is you do and find out and exterminate the traitor. Seeing as this meeting is important to our country and it's economy and is filled with valuable information Takigakure could use, I am almost positive the traitor will be present."

"And you're seriously hiring us for this meeting, why? Couldn't we just take all this information and give it to your enemies." Itachi asked.

Ichiro looked uncomfortable. "Yes, you could. But I do not think your leader would do such a thing...unless he was given the proper incentive. It's really our only option at this point, and a risk we must take. If the traitor is allowed to remain he could discover even more valuable information about our defenses, weapons, hidden techniques...you get the idea, I am sure. It is a calculated risk that we must take."

_'Great so I made an idiot out of myself last night for nothing.' _the shark mentally noted, remembering the dancing fiasco. "Yeah, we get it. Now mind getting out of here until then?"

"Oh yah, of course. Didn't mean to interrupt your alone time there." Jiro snickered before quickly disappearing out the door as quickly as he had barged in. Sighing, Ichiro made to follow him.

"One last thing. I will be serving you tonight. If your drinks or meal comes from _anyone_ else but myself, do not trust it. Spill it, criticize it, anything. But do not eat it." he sighed. "And...please do not fail us. I...I'm afraid to die..."

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><p><em><strong>-Galadraen<strong>_


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Naruto or any of the character in this fan-fiction besides the obviously horrible ones. Everything else belongs to Kishimoto._**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Seven<strong>

The awkward silence that filled the room after the twins' departure was almost unbearable. This odd and awkward tension seemed to be building more and more often, and Kisame was on the point of breaking. Itachi had woken up nearly naked in his bed after all, and when questioned the older man hadn't exactly been the most convincing when he denied having any part in the matter. Itachi was never one to confront problems though; his own or others'. Perhaps he would just ignore it and they would go on wasting the rest of the day in complete silence again. It'd be nice to hear his voice though. It did get pretty lonely and boring without it.

Damn it, what was he thinking? He was a hardened criminal not some needy pre-teen girl. Countless times he had been on missions alone, slaughtering families and now he was sitting here pouting because he'd rather his partner talk to him and hold a normal conversation for once than sit in silence. Whenever the silence got too heavy, Kisame was the one who would speak first. Conversations didn't always have to start with one of his off the wall stories about God knows what. It wasn't like the Uchiha didn't have a tongue and couldn't speak to him. Wait...no, no, no, no. Definitely did _not_ need to be thinking about Itachi's tongue and...no, enough! He refused to keep having erotic mental fantasies about his partner. It was infatuation. Just infatuation. As soon as this mission was over, he was getting laid and getting on with his life.

"Kisame?" the shark audibly groaned at the sound of his name. And here it starts... "Where are my clothes?"

"How am I supposed to know?" his tone was sharper than normal, but he really wasn't in the mood to talk with Itachi for once, let alone explain to him exactly why he was only in his boxers. It was frustrating enough having that troublesome twin interrogating him about it. "You're the one who crawled into bed with me half naked in the middle of the night."

The Uchiha was silent for a moment, clenching the blankets at his chest. An unsure look sat heavy in his eyes and he fidgeted. "I...did I really?"

"Would you be half naked if I was lying?" the shark-nin huffed. Really, wasn't it obvious? Damn drugged up kid, stripping all his clothes off and slipping into bed with him, rubbing that satin skin against his body. He sighed heavily. When he thought about it, it wasn't really his fault. It wasn't as if he took those pills for the hell of it. Whatever reason he had to take them must have been a legitimate one. Uchiha Itachi wasn't the type to be taking them for no purpose so it had to be something serious if he let himself succumb to such strange antics to get relief. The shark just wondered exactly _how_ serious the problem was. And when had it started? He'd only noticed him acting so odd just recently.

"..."

The older man glanced up to see the raven wrapped tightly in a sheet from the bed, searching for his missing clothing. The small black spiral ANBU tattoo stood out against his pale skin. Funny how the shark had never really noticed it before. The older man scanned down his body, eyes stopping at the reddened wound on his side. He frowned. It still hadn't healed all the way. Hopefully, it wouldn't prove troublesome later. When he looked backup, the raven quickly spied his shirt lying next to the bed and had slipped it on, letting the blanket fall a little lower. It was strange, but he swore he could have seen a tinge of pink on the younger man's cheeks before. He looked almost embarrassed. Well, he'd probably be pretty embarrassed too if he had done the same. "Look...it's not a big deal. But really, you get strange when you take those things. Why do you take them anyways? I've never seen you with them before. If you're sick, it's not like you can't tell me."

"It is none of your concern." the voice was like a cold sharp blade. Kisame felt a tinge of hurt, and frustration at the reply.

"None of my concern? For all I know, you're dying and you won't even talk to me about it." Itachi winced at his words and had the decency to look ashamed.

"It is my burden. I will not trouble you with it." there was pain in his eyes as the words rolled off his lips, but Kisame finished with this conversation. If his partner didn't want to let him in, so be it.

"Fine, then. Don't tell me. Fuck, why do I even bother?" he snapped back and stalked off to let the Uchiha get dressed.

For the next few hours he busied himself pretending to clean Samehada while sneaking looks over at his partner. The Uchiha seemed to be trying his best to ignore him as well. Like he wanted to talk to him anyway. Should he really care if he got hurt or was sick? He was just his partner after all...nothing more. Hell, he couldn't even call him a friend. Still, then why did his heart feel so heavy?

The hours passed by slowly. Kisame has almost run out of things to keep himself busy with when the raven stood to begin preparations for the night's event, barricading himself in the bathroom. The shark sighed a sigh of relief and felt his body relax. Being in the same room as Itachi had started to make him feel nervous and tense. He didn't want to act like an idiot in front of the Uchiha, but didn't want to be walked all over by him either. He did the things he did for him out of respect...and, maybe because he was a little bit infatuated with him. But all that was going to be over soon. He was his partner, not a lover. And he needed to think of him that way. Besides, even if he _was_ that attracted to Itachi, the raven would never return his feelings. He wasn't even sure if his younger partner had a sex drive at all or was capable of loving someone back. Damn it, _love_. Why on earth did he bring _that_ up again?

Still trying to decide in his mind whether or not Itachi had even had sex before or even liked girls...or people in general, the shark went to change into his evening clothes. Kisame has lucked out yet again and only had to put on a black ensemble that would match Itachi's kimono. Running his hands down the fabric he had to laugh. This was probably the first time he had ever dressed up in his entire life and he had to admit, Konan at least had some taste in clothing.

Glancing over at the bathroom door, the older man wondered what was taking so long. He flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling for what seemed like an hour before he heard the door creak open and saw the Uchiha dash behind the changing blind. After about ten minutes and an awful lot of noise from shuffling fabric and a loud bang (Kisame was almost positive Itachi had to have fallen into the wall on accident or), the younger man spoke after their mutual near day long silence.

"K-Kisame...I need your help..." the raven's voice was barely a whisper. "I...I can't tie this by myself. It ends up looking awful."

Kisame sat up, deadpanning at the changing blind as if it was what had actually spoken to him. Did his partner ask him for help? Had he fallen asleep while the raven was changing and started dreaming? Now this was a rare occurrence. He chuckled to himself. So, the great Itachi finally needed him for something, huh? Maybe he should just make him do it himself. He didn't have to help him after all.

"Could you come and help me...please?"

The shark-nin hesitated. Should he? Itachi had asked nicely after all. It was probably the most gentle he had spoken to him in a long time. Usually he just communicated through various grunts and glares. Plus, he really did look damn good in that kimono. He felt his guard crumble and rose to go help him. Pssh, he really was a pushover.

After passing behind the screen, the older man instantly knew it had been a bad idea. Itachi's hair was tied up again in that messy bun, falling lightly across one shoulder, the kimono sagging slightly off his other. Instead of a clean face, this time it was adorned with a light powder and a dusting of rouge on his cheeks. A light layer of mascara made his crimson eyes stand out even more so than usual. His already pouty lips accentuated by a thin layer of gloss. The shark felt his mind melt into slush, a dopey look spreading across his face. The raven raised an eyebrow and turned his back to him, motioning to the obi.

"I really have no idea what I am doing you know..." Kisame mumbled, taking the fabric in his hands.

"Just...tie it in some sort of a bow. Anything you do will look better than what I did earlier."

"Well, don't blame me if you have something that looks like a train wreck tied to your back."

Whatever he managed to do, probably looked about the same caliber as Itachi's previous attempt. The smell of lavender and vanilla from whatever perfume the raven had applied kept distracting him, it was all he could do not to pull him close and bury his face in his neck. Not to mention, he'd never helped a women into a kimono in his whole life.

"Does it look fine?" the Uchiha asked, turning to face the shark.

"Uhhh...yeah. Yeah, you look...I-I mean it looks great." he mumbled, awestruck once again. Itachi raised his eyebrow again in question. He was about to speak when they heard a loud banging on their door. Before they could even answer, the twin with the mis-matched eyes, Jiro, barged through loudly.

"What do you want?" was the shark's first reaction, not very pleased to see the younger twin.

"To inform ya my brother will be down shortly to get ya. I just wanted to make sure ya were...ready and all." a mischievous grin spread across his face and Kisame had the sudden urge to punch his teeth in, or dismember him. Maybe both. Jiro sneered more as he eyed the shark with distaste and turned his attention to the Itachi. The rage in his chest built to the boiling point as he watched the twin perversely gaze at Itachi with his hungry discoloured eyes.

"Hmmm, looks like ya do clean up nice there, pretty boy." a seductive smirk spread across his face as he gave the raven another once over, practically molesting him with those mis-matched eyes. "Y'know you should think about leavin' your partner behind here and taking me with ya instead. I'm sure we'd do just fine and probably a hellava lot better without him. We both know he's not the brains of the operation here. You've got 'im wrapped around your little finger don't ya? Hmmm, now that I think about it I might not mind havin' a little alone time with ya actually..."

Kisame bristled. He wouldn't have anyone disrespecting the younger man. Before he could move to wrap his fingers around the youngest twin's throat Itachi spoke suddenly.

"You would be die before you could so much as lay a finger on me." the Uchiha's voice was cold, striking out with pure venom in his words. "Do not test me. It would be unwise..."

"What? Gonna send your _boyfriend_ after me?" he sneered, mocking the shark-nin. "I'm ain't afraid of 'im."

Kisame felt his patience snap. Clenching his fist, he went to raise it to strike out at the blonde's face, but stopped when he felt a warm hand grip his wrist gently. He felt his heart jump and looked to see it was Itachi who had stayed his hand. Their eyes met and Itachi slowly shook his head. Even those eyes couldn't convince him to not rip the twin's head clean off.

"But, have it your way. Have fun with fish-face over here. Ya don't know what you're missing out on."

If the maniacal sandy haired twin hadn't slipped off into the shadows, Kisame was positive he would have ripped him to shreds with his bare hands. He was too enraged to even need Samehada to shave him into little pieces. How dare he even think of blatantly sexually harassing Itachi. And in front of him, non-the-less. Well, not that he really was his lover or anything, but still the nerve. He hadn't seen a bigger hypocrite in a long time. He glanced out the door, hoping to see him and give chase and rip him in half, but saw the corridor was deserted. No sign of Jiro.

"He's lucky I don't rip his limbs off. Bastard." he snarled, crossing his arms and resting against the door frame.

"Ignore him."

"If you hadn't stopped me I would have painted the walls red with that little shit's blood." he scoffed. "He doesn't know how damn lucky he is, he-"

"Kisame, it's fine." his monotone partner reassured him, walking up to stand by his side and place a hand on his arm. "Your reaction is what he values. You do not need to defend me. You know this."

Itachi may have been right, but it still didn't make him want to punch Jiro's teeth out any less.

"I really don't see why the Tsuchikage is going through so much trouble with hiring the Akatsuki. He should just kill them all and get it over with. Not the first time that someone has done so. Protecting their vital information is more important than those idiot's lives. They assume Leader-sama won't just sell it off to their enemies, and they're right, he might not. But he sure as hell will use it himself. They should know that. Idiots."

Minutes later, Ichiro came strolling up to take them to the dining hall. How could one of them be so stupid and the other be so polite and well mannered? The twin turned to them with a soft smile. "Tonight is very important. The two of you will be under the guise of very wealthy and important investors from a distant country. You value our countries power and wish to ally with us. Your..._wife_ here is sick and you wish to use our wealth to your advantage to find a cure to her illness along with aiding our village. It is a sufficient enough alibi for the two of you to work with. It also can be used as an excuse for your partner's inability to speak. Do not worry though, it is highly unlikely that you will be required to do much speaking. I am sure the other guests will do most of that, especially if they wish to convince you do ally with our nation."

Kisame silently scolded himself. He hadn't even thought about that. If Itachi were to speak it would be a dead giveaway. He was no good with words. If he said one wrong thing, they were sure to be doomed. Though the younger of the two, Itachi had been the obvious leader of the group these past years. Apparently, his younger partner was thinking the same, his red orbs meeting the shark's eyes as they exchanged worried looks. And then Kisame realized another critical mistake they almost had made.

"Itachi...your eyes." he reminded his partner, as it dawned on him that if anyone met those eyes they would know exactly who he was. This time Kisame was sure he saw a spark of worry in the younger man's eyes as they faded to a dull black.

"Oh, yes. It slipped my mind...but please take my arm. It...it is what married couples do after all." he murmured, reaching out to hook his arm into the taller man's. The missing-nin felt a flush come over his face as the familiar scent of lavender and vanilla overtook him.

"E-excuse me..but this way please." he snapped to his senses to see Ichiro was already far ahead of them at the end of the corridor. He began to walk, picking up his pace. Suddenly Itachi yelped and nearly tripped over his kimono, reaching out to throw his arms around the shark's arm to keep himself from falling. _'Wow...this thing must be harder to walk in than it looks.'_ the older man thought to himself as he helped Itachi steady himself and continued forward at a slower pace.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the dining hall. The high stone ceilings and many white clay sculptures reminded him of one of their newer recruits, Deidara, and he wondered if he had any hand in making them. Perhaps before he decided to start blowing up every damn thing he got his hands on they asked him to craft them for the hall. Ichiro bowed and muttered something about helping in the kitchen before slipping off down another hallway leaving them alone with a crowd of uppity looking aristocrats. The shark could practically feel their eyes boring into him, scrutinizing his strange appearance. He started to think that maybe Kakuzu and Hidan would have been more suited for this. At least they were normal looking...well, maybe? He hadn't even seen Kakuzu without his mask come to think of it...

Reminding himself of their mission at hand, the shark was about to retreat to a corner to avoid conversation when they were approached by a tall man with dark hair and eyes and his date, a young girl with deep purple hair and yellow eyes. He cursed himself for making the mistake of making eye contact, knowing he couldn't escape and ignore them now.

"Ah, good evening sir and lady." the tall dark haired man greeted. Kisame could already tell he would prefer to slice this man to ribbons and be done with him than hold a conversation. Where was Samehada when he needed it? No one ever started casual conversations with the shark man with a monstrous sword. "I don't think I have seen you at any of the Tsuchikage's governmental meetings before, now have I? Let me introduce myself. I am Renji Nakamura and this is my wife, Oboro."

"Shogo Hideyoshi. My wife, Yakumo." he kept it short, hoping his tone would deter the man from continuing his conversation, but they had no such luck. This Nakamura man was obviously too intent on being a braggart and finding out their purpose at this meeting.

"And your profession?" he inquired.

"We're investors who specialize in the development of new medicines." Kisame was surprised with himself, coming up with all these lies at the drop of a hat.

"Ah, have you come to aid Iwagakure with your skills then?"

"For the right price and amenities, yes." he lied through his teeth, praying the man would just leave them the hell alone. "My wife is sick, you see. And I need more funding for my research on something that will cure her of her illness"

"Ah, and what exactly is her ailment?" he looked down his nose, eying Itachi. "Nothing..._contagious_, I hope."

Damn it, why did this man have to sit here and interrogate him? He was actually almost thankful when Jiro opened the doors to where they'd be dining and informed them to please come take their seats (mind, it was actually polite sounding for once). Though he wasn't particularly hungry, he had almost welcomed the prospect of dinner, until he remembered all the ridiculous rules of proper etiquette that Itachi had went over with him the previous night. He supposed he would just have to try to remember them all. Hopefully the food was at least good. He could eat anything as long as it wasn't shark-fin soup. He might have to flip a table if they dared to serve him that. Looking down, he saw that the raven seemed to be lost in thought, his eyes slightly hazy. He tapped his shoulder lightly and motioned for them to enter and he snapped out of his train of thought.

Kisame felt his heart sink once again as he realized per their seating arrangement they were directly across from the couple they had just encountered. This was not going to make keeping their disguise up any easier. The dark haired man gave them a nod of acknowledgement as they were seated. Bastard was probably happy to continue barraging him with questions.

"So, where are you from?" he instantly started up where he had previously left off on his interogration.

"The River Country." the shark replied, deciding to keep his answers as blunt as possible.

"Oh, I haven't heard much good news about the River Country lately. It was last rumoured that demon of the Mist, Zabuza and his subordinates were said to be found there. Harassing small villages or something dreadful along those lines."

"He's dead."

Nakamura look surprised,"Ah, and where did you obtain that information?"

"It is well known information in our country." he snarled. He had about had it with all the questions and was beginning to lose his patience. "Obviously, I can understand why you were not aware, seeing as you are not from the River Country."

While he was speaking, Jiro had brought the two of them their drinks, mumbling something about his brother being extremely busy before dashing back off in the direction of the kitchens.

"Do not drink it." the raven whispered quietly in his ear, disguising their closeness by pretending to lovingly brush back a strand of Kisame's navy hair. He shivered at the touch.

Kisame gave him a confused look and remembered Ichiro's comments earlier that morning. They were to accept no food or drink from anyone but the older twin, but surely taking something from the younger twin couldn't be a death sentence? He was his brother after all and aware of their mission as well. Still, he listened to the raven and pulled back his hand, the eyes of the couple still attentive to his every move.

Without warning, he raven coughed heavily, holding a hand to his mouth the other settling over his wound. When he removed his hand a small amount of blood pooled at the corner of his lips. Though he dreaded seeing Itachi in pain, this may have just saved them from being exposed.

"Excuse us. Sometimes my wife gets lightheaded and needs to get some air." he excused them from the table, taking Itachi's hand in his and leading him back out into the main hall. Spying a row of large glass doors, he took one to find them out on a balcony surrounded a courtyard with a river cutting through it's center.

"Sorry, bastard was being too nosy." he smirked. The raven did not answer, but wiped the small trickle of blood from his mouth on the back of his hand, sighing deeply. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, do not worry about it."

"This isn't the first time you coughed up blood Itachi..." he had told himself it wasn't his concern a hundred times over but still couldn't get that sick feeling out of his stomach as he looked at his pained partner.

"It is not your concern."

"You never open up to anyone, do you?" he was blunt. But perhaps it was what Itachi needed to finally come to terms with it himself.

"Hn."

"I realize we are in an organization full of murders, liars, and who knows what else but could you at least trust me for once? Would it fucking kill you to confide in me."

The raven didn't respond, but looked straight past the shark, his face contorted in a frown. Kisame regreted using such harsh words, and for even practically throwing a tantrum, but it just needed to get out in the open. He wanted Itachi to trust him. He wanted it a little too much perhaps. This infatuation...was it why he so desperately strove for the raven's trust and acknowledgement. Was it making things worse or would it make things better in the end if it caused him to to tell the younger man what he was truly thinking?

"The couple from before is watching us." the raven stated, interupting him from his thoughts."I can feel it. Are they on the balcony as well?"

"They are. About two of those large doors away..." he said, noticing the couple watching them from afar. So, that man had been suspicious of them after all. No wonder he wouldn't stop questioning them. Then again, Kisame didn't exactly '_look the part_' of one who would be invited to such an occasion. "Well...what am I supposed to do?"

"Stay calm. Act natural. We are in the guise of a couple. Being alone on this balcony together cannot look that suspicious."

Kisame glanced back at the couple, taking a deep breath and trying to regain his composure. They hadn't looked away and were speaking to one another in hushed tones. "They're whispering to one another now."

Before the shark knew what was happening the raven had pushed him so that his back was now leaning against the cold stone of the balcony. The shark gasped as he felt Itachi's warm body press against his, the raven's head resting on his chest and arms wrapped around his waist in an embrace. He looked down and instantly knew what the younger man was up to. From this angle and distance his Sharingan could read their lips without them seeing it had been activated. He was sure that Itachi must have been able to hear his heart thumping loudly in his chest. He closed his eyes, trying not to concentrate on the body pressed tight against his own. And then suddenly he felt hot breath against his ear. The raven had moved so swiftly he hadn't even noticed, that or he was too distracted by the warm body against him to pay much attention. The younger man's hot breath sent a shiver down his spine and straight to his groin. What did he think he was doing?

"It seems they are more intelligent than they appear." the raven whispered to him. He knew that Itachi must just be trying to keep up the charade of lovers, but this was maddening. "But not that smart, I'm afraid. They believe _we _are not who we say are. Spies, they think."

"Idiots. We're the ones _looking_ for the spies. What do we do?"

"Hmmm, if they tell any of the others our cover will crumble and the _real_ traitor will realize our purpose and be sure not to make any more moves. That is if it is not..." he trailed off, pulling himself back to look the shark in the eyes.

"You're actually making me nervous Itachi... We can't screw this up."

"Keep our cover. And we will be fine."

"How are we supposed to do that?" his mind scrambled for any ideas. The only one that occured to him was completely idiotic and perhaps just more self want than an actual _plan, _but worth a try. Anything was at this point.

"I...I don't know. I did not think we looked suspicious before...I..."

And then Kisame did the only thing he could think to do. The only thing he had wanted to do. Pulling his partner close, he leaned to press his lips firmly against the Itachi's. Eyes closed, he could only feel the sharp intake of breath from the surprised younger man. Without thinking, the shark-nin reached up to cup the raven's face in his hand, moving his lips against Itachi's. An intense heat washed over his entire body, to the tips of his fingers pressed against the warm skin of his partner. A similar dizzy feeling cascaded over his brain and all thoughts of their mission seemed to fade as he was lost more in the intensity of the kiss. What he had so desperately been craving these past weeks was finally in his grasp and the last thing he wanted was for this moment to end. The hand grasping at his chest seemed to say otherwise. Quickly, he pulled back turning his face, not daring to make eye contact.

"I-I...I'm sorry." he glanced over to the the couple had left. Apparently, his idiotic plan had worked. That or they had run off to inform everyone that these two strange people were some sort of spies. "They're...gone now."

The raven didn't respond but simply reached up with one pale hand to touch his lips. His eyes met Kisame's. Blood red. He was doomed. How could he have been so stupid to kiss Itachi, especially without his permission? He closed his eyes, not wanting to endure hours of torture but when it didn't come, he opened them ever so slightly to see the raven staring over the edge of the balcony and into the courtyard. A sudden realization seemed to take fire in his eyes are he looked down over the edge of the balcony.

It was Jiro, standing alone in the center of the clearing. Eyes darting back and forth, hands obviously twitching, he looked nervous on the borderline of sprinting from the courtyard. Before he could look over to guage his partner's reaction the raven had already dove from the balcony and was heading down into the clearing, red kimono streaming after him like a trail of fire.

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><p><em><strong>-Galadraen<strong>_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **_Guess who's back! That's right, finally after a ridiculously long hiatus, I have returned. I do apologize. October was far too busy for me and I found finding time to write to be exceedingly difficult. At the beginning of the month I was horrible sick, almost to the point of hospitalization. After that all I wanted to do was sleep. After that I had commissions to attend to and my parents visited me. The month ended with a con some hours away from my home and a great weekend. I finally just now recovered, thankfully. Anyhow, this chapter goes out to H1d4nSAN for being such a loyal reviewer and follower of the story that she felt the need to check and see if I planned on continuing. Oh, and of course to 911 because I think I dedicate every chapter to her because she is just so amazing._

_Anyhow, hopefully I will be updating weekly to biweekly depending on how busy and/or sick I get. Tis the season for the flu! Which well...to this man can be deadly. Not to mention I recently started playing all the Kingdom Hearts games over again and I hope I don't becomg too glued to the screen._

**Disclaimer: **_Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't own it. It's not mine... still Kishimoto's. If it was mine there would be so much Lee and Gaara yaoi people would vomit glitter and sparkles._

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Eight<strong>

The shark watched open mouthed as the raven disappeared, camouflaging himself behind some of the foliage surrounding the courtyard. Apparently the twin hadn't spotted either of them and continued his pacing back and forth along the edge of the fountain. He scratched at his fingernails, fidgeting and picking at his cuticles. Every few seconds he would glance out across the courtyard as if waiting for something or someone. Crouching along the edge of the balcony, and backing into the shadows the older man watched as the Uchiha made his way around the clearing and to a position just behind Jiro.

"Jiro..." the quiet whisper floated across the courtyard.

Hearing his name, the blonde quickly spun, a hand going a little too eagerly to a small pouch strapped at his side. Seeing the approaching man, his hand dropped a fraction of an inch though still not straying too far from the concealed weapons.

"What are you doing here pretty-boy?" Jiro's eyes were alight with anticipation, a crazed look dancing across the surface. "Where's ya boyfriend?"

"Itachi." the raven replied, giving a very uncharacteristic light smile. Even from such a far distance, the shark could tell his Sharingan had been deactivated. "We are not lovers. He is but my partner, I assure you."

"Is that so?" he chortled, the crooked grin that spread across his face grew even wider as he moved in a bit closer to the man.

"What are you doing alone in the garden when there are guest to attend?" the Uchiha questioned with a never before heard flirtatious tone to his voice, ignoring the twin drawing ever closer to his body.

"Shouldn't I be asking ya the same?" Jiro was so close the raven must have been able to feel his breath on his neck, the presence of the other man intruding upon him. "Hmmm...it really is too bad ya know? Too bad indeed. You're damn pretty for a man..."

The raven hardly had time to furrow his brow in question as a blade sliced upward towards his throat. In one fluid movement the raven had pulled a kunai from somewhere in the sleeve of his kimono and sent it crashing straight into the oncoming weapon. The clang of metal rang out. Jiro's mis-matched eyes were alight in excitement as they met Itachi's, already begging to see bloodshed and growing wide when they met a brilliant red. Except it was not the blood spray he had been waiting for. Itachi's own crimson depths stared back at him.

Red. Blood red. He could see nothing else.

Leaping over the balcony, Kisame didn't care if anyone saw him as he sprinted towards the raven. It was clear Itachi had already trapped the other man in his genjutsu as the shark approached. Within seconds the twin fell to the stone walkway, limp and twitching. Not wasting a second, with his right hand the raven reached out to grab Jiro's collar, lifting him up with stength beyond what his appearance would show and shook him violently.

"For the sake of your family? For the sake of your brother?" the accusatory words echoed across the garden clearing. "You are scum. Scum who betrayed his own village and his family. You do not deserve to even live..."

Kisame wasn't even halfway across the yard when blood sprayed across the raven's face, melting into his crimson kimono as his kunai sliced across Jiro's throat. Tossing the body to the ground, his own shoulders slumped in exhaustion, the occular jutsu clearly had taken quite a bit of his strength. Blinded by rage towards the blonde, he must have over-done himself.

"Itachi!" now next to the raven, the shark rested his hand on the young man's shoulder. "You shouldn't over do it. Are you alright?"

"Clean up the blood..." he mumbled, flicking his hand out to motion to the blood sprayed across the stone walkway. The other was pressed to his closed eyes. "It's everywhere."

"I'm not a garden hose, you know." the older man grumbled before performing a simple water jutsu to wash the sidewalk clean. "Damn it, Itachi. Who are we supposed to tell about this now? The brother of this man is the only one we had contact with and I'm sure he's not going to be to ha-"

The shark trailed of as he saw a figure running across the courtyard towards them. Moving in front of the Uchiha, who didn't move even a fraction of an inch, the shark took a more defensive stance. As the figure came into view, his tense body relaxed as he recognized it as Ichiro. The older twin's eyes were frantic and focused directly on the dead body lying in the grass not far off from the Sharingan wielder. The man let out a light scream upon recognizing the body as that of his younger brother and he fell to his knees, hands reaching out to pull in and cradle the body on his lap. Tears began to stream down his face as he rocked forward with each heavy sob.

"J-Jiro..." he gasped. Instantly his gaze snapped to the blood-stained raven. "How could you do this?"

"Your brother is dead." the ice cold words reaffirming his brother's sorry state seemed to hit him like daggers. The Uchiha did not look up as he continued, "He betrayed you and your village. Let your Kage know this. A man will be by to collect our payment in five days time."

"How could you just kill him! We could have questioned him...he may have been innocent!" Gently lying the corpse back into the grass he rose and snatched at the front of Itachi's embelished kimono, shaking him.

"I do not lie."

"You killed him! You killed my brother! He was the only family I had and now he is gone...how could you? How could you ju-" the raven's eyes snapped open to meet the twin's own blue depths. Within seconds he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"If he does not understand now, he never will." the raven mumbled, rising to his feet. He began forward, stumbling a little as he went. With a nod towards Kisame he rushed off in the direction of the building they had been staying in. "Hurry, let us fetch Samehada and my clothing. Our mission is complete."

The shark overtook the raven as they raced into the building and down the hallways. All the traffic has been averted to the main dining room and thankfully all the halls were empty. Arriving at their room, the Uchiha began immediately derobing, much to the older man's surprise. Perverted thoughts started to creep from the corners of his mind and he urged them away as he began to change into his regular clothes, willing his eyes away from the half naked man only a feet away from him. Strapping Samehada on his back, the pair departed as quickly as they came, running across the border of the village in a matter of minutes and into the dark mountainous region beyond.

Through ragged breaths Itachi had informed him they would be traveling down into the Fire Country to follow the border and then making their way up towards the Akatsuki's base. Traveling through the Waterfall may be taking a risk they would be ambushed if nesw reached their enemy's ears they had brutally murdered their spy. Early in the journey down to the border Kisame had already decided that whether the raven liked it or not they were stopping at an inn until morning. He wasn't going to have the exhausted man traveling such a long distance after using so much energy and overexerting himself with his eye technique. Glancing back over his shoulder, he wasn't surprised to see his partner following a little ways behind him. Though his face looked emotionless as usual, he could tell the running was starting to take a toll on his body.

Lighting flashed off in the distance, followed by a loud rumble. The shark hardly had time to curse to himself as droplets began to fall from the sky; small and slowly at first, progressing into large drops that spattered and stung the skin they came into contact with. In the distance behind him, Kisame could see the glowing red eyes of his partner steadily trailing father behind. He had wanted to make it to the inn as soon as possible and it was clear Itachi's exhaustion was startin to get the better of him. He let it go on for a few miles before abruptly stopping, glancing back as the raven caught up with him.

"You don't need to use your eyes so much y'know." probably not the best converation starter, but he didn't have time to beat around the bush. "You don't need them, so why don't you rest them for a bit?"

"No."

"...c'mon, why not?" he coaxed.

"I said, no."

"Well...you're going awfully slow back there, Itachi. No time to go slow and smell the flowers so..."

"What are you doing?" Itach yelped in surprise as his older partner scooped him up into his arms and began running again.

"I'm carrying you, obviously." the shark grinned, glancing down at the man in his arms.

"Put me down." red eyes gleamed back at Kisame's own through the darkness. "Now."

"Are you always this stubborn?" blatantly ignoring the raven, the shark pushed onward through the night. "Just be quiet and let me do this. We'll be there soon."

"...hn."

"Rest your eyes. You use them too much. I've said it before." he picked up his pace, moving faster across the land, eyes scanning the horizon for any lights or sign of a bordertown. "You won't need them while I'm carrying you."

"...hn."

"I'll take that as a 'Yes, Kisame. Whatever you say. You're always right. You're so smart. Why don't I listen to you more often?'"

The raven rolled his black eyes before closing them and leaning closer into the shark's broad chest. If he hadn't been so focused on getting the raven to a warm bed he would have tripped over his own feet at the sudden contact. The heat of his partner's body seeped through his cloak; the only bit of warmth he could feel in the cold rain. The feeling felt so foreign, but welcome. Maybe he had wanted to carry Itachi for a few more reasons than simply quickening their pace.

Sometime after midnight, the shark could spot lights in the distance. Finally, a bordertown. Usually most bordertowns were filled with travelers, inns, and anything else one might need. It didn't take long before they made their way to the edge of town, spotting an inn off of one of the sideroads leading into the town. Even so late at night quite a few shops were still open and travelers made their way from bars to ramen and tea shops, meandering around the streets. Couples giggled and talked in the corners of the shops they passed and a few shabby looking men sat outside the food vendors, looking for scraps and spare change. Ignoring the looks he normally received he passed by the shop on the way to the inn, the raven still in his arms.

"Put me down." the Uchiha's commanding voice snapped Kisame back to reality. He had nearly forgotten that carrying his male partner through town might appear a little strange. He set the younger man down, noticing that the raven had already activated the Sharingan before his feet had even touched the ground.

"Oh...yeah. Sorry." Kisame mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

The first inn they saw was actually of decent quality much to their surprise. Itachi quickly paid for a room with two beds and headed off down the hall and up the stairs to their room. When they pushed open the door, a eastern style room greeted them. Two bed mats and a low to the ground table adorned the room along with a paper screen and two clean robes that looked much like yukatas.

The raven instantly removed his wet cloak, throwing it over the screen to dry. His shirt followed next, the damp material fighting to stay on his body. The wound on his side had healed enough for him to remove his bandages. He tossed those to the side, running a finger over the raised pink scar tissue. As much as he told himself he needed to push thoughts of the raven out of his mind he couldn't help but ogle the other man's body when his back was turned away from him. There was just something so appealing about the subtle curves of his body and pale skin. He frowned slightly when he realized the raven wasn't going to continue to undress. Well, he didn't get to see more of a show, but also his younger partner had to be cold. Being in wet clothing didn't seem like the best or most comfortable thing for him at the moment.

"Here." the shark tossed over one of the dark blue yukatas that was hanging on hooks on the wall to his soaking wet partner. "You need to change out of those clothes."

He was all too familiar with the death glare he received in return. "You wear it. I have had enough of those to last a lifetime."

"You know I'm too big for it." he laughed, knowing his answer was obvious. There was no way in hell one of those would fit him even if he tried. "C'mon just put it on. At least one of us can be dry."

"Fine."

"Man, I'm on a role. Actually listening to me two times in one night? Damn, must be my lucky day."

Chuckling to himself, he removed his own damp cloak and threw it over with Itachi's. The arm warmers he usually wore were soaking wet. He stripped them off and threw them on the ground moving next to his shirt, pulling it over his head, his headband catching and coming off along with it. Shrugging he tossed them on the floor with the arm warmers and combed his fingers through the deep navy hair, mussing up the damp strands. Again, his eyes strayed to the raven...was he watching him undress too?

Yes, yes he was. But...more like staring. Almost that vacant stare he did after he had taken a dose of his medicine, but behind his eyes was something else he couldn't quite put his finger on. Damn it...he really wasn't in the mood to put up with a doped up Itachi, especially after swearing to himself he was going to try to get over his little infatuation with the other man.

"Itachi...you didn't happen to take any of that medicine again, did you?" knowing his luck, the raven was going to ask him some horribly inappropriate question.

"No." he simply stated, shaking his head slightly and turning to look away.

"Something on your mind?"

"...my eyes. They are just tired." a deep sigh escaped him and he closed his eyes, pressing his fingers to rub the bridge of his nose.

Sudden curiousity struck the shark. Itachi seemed to use his occular jutsu quite a bit and often complained that his eyes were 'just tired'. He was well aware the jutsu put stress on his body, sometimes bringing him to exhaustion...but what effect did it have on his actual eyes?

"Hey...Itachi how many fingers am I holding up?" the shark extended two fingers on either hand to make a double v sign. The raven's glare didn't seem as intense with his natural eyes staring back at him. Regardless, they were still threatening.

"'I am not interested in playing childish games with you." the raven averted his black eyes so that he was now staring out the window, expessionless as ever. "Go to sleep."

"C'mon, I'm serious..." he pouted, pleading with the Uchiha.

Finally when he realized the shark was not going to relent or let him to go sleep unless he answered, the Uchiha gave in. "Hn...eight. You were holding up eight."

"Really?" Kisame was dumbstruck. He had only been holding up _four_ fingers. Was the raven serious? He simply wanted to know if his prodigy partner's eyes were still in the shape they had been when they had met. But really...to be _that_ far off. He had to be joking simply because he wasn't in the mood for Kisame's questions. Still, it wasn't like the raven to make any sort of joke..."Did you even look? Or are you just screwing with me?"

"Yes, really." he snapped, rising from his seat to face the window and look out into the night. "Why would I lie about your stupid game?"

"You can't see for shit, can you?" blunt, but to the point. It all made sense now. Every time he stumbled. Why he constantly had his occular jutsu activated. It all fit.

"..."

"You really can't can you? That's why you're always using that fancy eye jutsu of yours, isn't it? That's why without it you trip over your feet. And the reason why you wanted to hold my arm on our mission...right?" the wave of realization hit him like a ton of bricks. His partner had started to go blind and hadn't even so much as told him more than a weak excuse about his eyes being sore. And he hadn't even noticed the difference..."Why didn't you say anything?"

"I...I did not want you to think I was weak." pressing his forehead against the cold glass, the raven sighed, his breath fogging the window.

"If you wanted me dead, you could have me dead. You're strong. There isn't a doubt in my mind that even at your weakest you're stronger than I am... Do you even remember what I look like...are you completely blind?"

"That is a stupid question. Of course I do. And no...I see more in blurs unless a subject is close enough." it was obvious the Uchiha was growing more irritated with each question. It was probably the most in depth conversation they had had concerning his young partner and he could tell the longer he drew it out, the more irritated he was going to become. A tinge of anger flared in Kisame's chest and he felt himself grow hot. Since when was being concerned for someone you were in close proximity with for years of your life such a horrid thing? He hadn't cared about his previous partners before...but they hadn't made him feel the way the raven had. Perhaps it was best just to think of him as his allies in the Mist. Disposable. "Why are you do worried about my eyes? You are not my keeper. Mind your own business."

"Damn, is it a crime to look out for your partner now?" he could feel the irritation brewing in his chest. Disposable...but, he just couldn't think of him that way. "It's just...seeing you happy...well, it makes me feel happy."

"Do not base your happiness on the happiness of others. It is pointless. You are bound to fail and be displeased."

"Do you always shut everyone out like that? I realize you haven't had any interaction with anyone besides bloodthirtsy wanted-nin in a long time but that doesn't mean you automatically have the right to be a dick." but maybe it was what he had to do. Though for once in his life he wanted to be close to someone...maybe it was best to just walk away from it all. Treating the Uchiha with respect and compassion obviously wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Would it kill you to give me a little respect? Or even confide anything in me for heaven's sake? We've only been partners for...damn, _years_ now and I hardly know anything more about you now than what Pain initially told me when we were assigned to be partners. And maybe you should take your own advice sometime.

"..."

"I'm going out."

With that, the shark rose from his seat and threw his cloak on not bothering to put on his shirt. His pants were still damp from the rain, but he didn't really give a damn. He just needed to get out away from Itachi and clear his head. Maybe the raven did have a valid point, but he was sure he did too. Disposable...that's what he needed to be.

The former Mist-nin hardly noticed the eyes watching him as he stalked down the streets of the town, too deeply lost in his own thoughts. Never in his life had anyone ever had any value to him. Trusting an ally was something he just did not do. Putting so much faith in a person was something unheard of to him. Now, he seemed to have openly given Itachi every little piece of him without even realizing it. How did one go about throwing all that to the side?

When a woman with long dark hair and tired eyes propositioned him in an alley a few streets back from the hotel, he did not deny her. With the soft kisses she placed on his throat, he fought so desperately to let the thoughts of the raven melt from his mind. As her hands trailed across his skin he begged for this to be what he had needed. Just infatuation. Not more...please, it can't be more. The churning in his stomach was hard to ignore as her lips met his and he forced himself to kiss her back. This was what he wanted wasn't it? Then why did it make him feel so disgusting? A soft moan caused his eyes to snap open and fully take in the person before him. Blue irises, dark hair, tired eyes...no replacement was going to make him feel any different than he already did. He was a fool to think otherwise. No, this wasn't what he wanted. Not at all. He knew what he wanted...what he had wanted for quite some time. And even if it was unattainable it was better than this. Even if it tortured him to do so, he wouldn't throw away the feeling plaguing his heart. Pushing back against the woman and he shoved her aside, silently forcing money into her hand as he turned to leave the alley. The woman shrugged and pocketed it, returning to the darkness to seduce a different customer.

Shame lurked in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't felt this stupid in a long time. Stupid that he had thought something so simple could fix his problem. Stupid that he had ignored what he was really feeling for so long. A man who had not even considered one person in his life a friend...in love? It seemed preposterous, but he was starting to believe that maybe this aching in his heart might be just that.

His wanderings finally led him back to the hotel and their room. As quietly as possible, he pulled back the door and stepped into the dark. The raven had already curled up under the covers on his bed mat, facing away from the door. With the utmost care, the shark removed his shoes, cloak, and remaining damp clothing leaving himself just in his boxers. As awkward as he felt being nearly undressed and so close to Itachi, he'd rather be comfortable than damp in bed. As quietly as before, he slipped under his own covers facing the boy, watching the light from the street below dance across his form. The darkness seemed so heavy around them, almost comforting.

"It's my birthday in two days..." Kisame jumped slightly at the sudden noise from the figure he had assumed to be asleep.

"I-I didn't know..." he mumbled, unsure of where exactly the Uchiha was going with the statement.

"I know."

"Why...why are you telling me this?"

"Because I choose to." he could hear the raven let out an exasperated sigh. "Your words hold some truth."

"Number three...told you something was wrong with you today...you never agree with me."

The room was silent once again

"...that was my first kiss..."

A blush crept over the shark's cheeks. "I-I-I...I'm sorry. I didn't know. I wouldn't have even done that if I had, I mean...they were looking and we were supposed to be acting like a couple and I just sorta reacted and I know it was stupid and I shouldn't have but-"

"Kisame."

"I just didn't know what else to do and I knew if anyone-"

"It's alright."

His ramblings abruptly stopped. "I-I...it is?"

"Yes."

"...are you serious though? You've never been kissed?"

"..."

"...I-I don't mean anything by that. Just...hard to believe someone as beautiful as you hadn't kissed many people by now. I mean, if anyone should be new to this, it should be me. I mean, with a face like this it's hard to come by people who even so much as wanna be around me as kiss me."

"I did not have time for such things when I was young. I did not have an interest in women as my friends did. I was too concentrated on my studies and training. When I joined ANBU, I was forced to be more secretive about my life and didn't have an opportunity to get close to those my age. Upon joining Akatsuki, I also did not have time for such foolish endeavors. It does not hold much importance to me."

So, the mighty Uchiha Itachi was a virgin...suddenly things got a lot more interesting. Perhaps making advances would be a little more successful than he thought.

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><p><strong>AN:** _Anyhow, I'm not entirely pleased with this chapter but I hope at least a few of you enjoyed it. I want to try to get into the more 'fun' stuff here in a chapter and have been trying to write to a little more romantic music. Romantic music depresses me some though, so forgive me if it is cheesy and a little glum. Currently my playlist is filled with SeeU and any little scrap of her and her genderbend that I can get my hands on that sounds decent. SeeU is some Vocaloid non-sense by the way. My musical taste is strange._

_Also, if I ever disappear of the face of the earth again refer to my deviantART which is also OTMarch, and is linked on my profile. Follow me for journal updates, requests, maybe some fan art when I get time to scan things in, pictures of my hot and oh so manly self *cough*yeahfuckingright*cough* and if you'd like to see things I hand make as a hobby. It'd mean a lot to me to have a few more people interested in what I do and recommending pairings for me to write._

_Anyhow, please for the love of Jashin review. I know I was gone for quite some time but I could use some nice reviews to keep me motivated! _

**-OTM**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **I fucking suck. After a ridiculously long absence, I have returned! I truly missed writing and am happy to say that I feel much more inspired as of late than usual. Hopefully, I'll continue to move along on this story much faster than I have been. I apologize for my long absence and want to thank each and every one of you who has messaged me, reviewed, alerted, and favourited this story. It really does encourage me to do my best and see this story to the end! Lots of interesting things in this chapter for you...some humour, mushy cute things, and a little bit of sexy stuff to satiate your craving since I left you for so long. Enjoy!_  
><em>

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of that jazz. It belongs to Kishimoto and I feel privileged to torture his characters with my completely fucked up mind.**

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><p><strong>Submerged - Chapter Nine<strong>

It took the shark a long time before he was able to fall asleep. His mind was heavy with thoughts of the raven sleeping only a few feet away from him. Through the darkness he watched Itachi's chest rise and fall in his sleep and noticed the slight twitches in his face as he dreamed. Who knew a man could have such feminine eyelashes?

Kisame smile. The Uchiha almost looked his age when he slept; a look of peace and relaxation on his face and for once not looking so weary. What would he do now? It was hard to deny his feelings for his younger partner now. The kiss they had shared could never be erased. Even if he pushed it to the back of his mind, it would easily work it's way back to the front in his dreams. The feelings growing in his heart could never be burned away so easily. Would he continue to struggle day by day to surpress the urge to hold the raven in his arms and caress the soft skin of his throat with his lips? Or would he dare make the move to romance the boy? Seduce him even...he had guessed by their conversation that the young Uchiha was most likely a virgin. It was particularly easy to arouse an oridinary virgin with just the smallest of touchest. He had a hard time believing it would be such an easy task with Itachi. Even if he has the courage to touch him in such ways, he didn't suppose it would be the best method of showing the raven his affections. After all, his body didn't just lust for him but longed for something more. Something more intimate and permanent than just one night of warm flesh against flesh.

Turning to lie on his back, he rested his hands behind his head. The thought passed through his mind that it might never be possible. They were both ninja and fugitives of the law. Wanted nin, they would never get any peace. After all, what did he expect? Some happy life with Itachi, living on the coast with just each other for company? A cozy life with his partner was a laughable thought and he quickly pushed it out of his mind. But really, what did he want from this? More than just sex, of course...but they could never live comfortably with one another. Perhaps just being acknowledged by the raven would be enough. To be needed and appreciated, even if they were just two missing nin hell bent on causing destruction. Groaning, he rolled on to his side and began to pick at the bedding absentmindedly. All these thoughts were pointless if nothing ever happened between them, so why was he even bothering to worry about it?

Had he resigned his fate to just travel alongside him, hiding his feelings and shielding himself from all distraction? What did he have to lose if he didn't? Kisame couldn't stand living in a world plagued by lies, but living in a world where he constantly lied to himself about these feelings? He simply couldn't live that way. It was all or nothing. He had to try. There must be some way to draw his eyes. Small acts of kindness may not go unnoticed by his young partner but they didn't seem to be enough. Making any advances on his partner might not be the best idea without first knowing if his feelings were reciprocated. That and if Itachi was in a bad mood he was sure to suffer some sort of consequence...

And then an idea hit him with full force...his birthday! There must be something he could do that would make the raven happy. Even if it were something small...he racked his memory for all those little moments when the Uchiha's eye lit up at the sight of an object, the way his lip upturned slightly when something pleased him, the look in his eye when he found something particularly pleasing or satisfactory. Then suddenly, he had it. Sure...it was a long journey and it would tire him substantially, not to mention be very dangerous, but perhaps it would be worth it.

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><p>Strong sunlight streamed across the floor of the pair's shared room. Bright light shone across the shark's face, slowly coaxing him awake until he couldn't tolerate the light anymore and turned to his side, pulling the blanket to shield his face. It was too late, he was already awake. Realization of his day's task roused him even more and he flung back the covers, glancing at the window and silently cursing. It was already nearing noon. Aware that making a stealthy get away was much less likely as the morning grew later, the shark glanced over at his partner and was shocked to find him still asleep. It was a rare occasion when the raven slept longer than the shark. Shrugging it off as luck on his part, he began to ready himself for the trip, grabbing some of the items he would need. The late start set him back quite a bit. He'd have to be quick.<p>

Movement out of the corner of his eyes grabbed his attention. That was strange. He could swear he saw the surface of the mirror ripple slightly. His eyes locked on the mirror, not budging as he scanned the surface for any signs of movement. When the mirror appeared to just be it's stationary self, he lowered his gaze back to the table below it and began to scribble a quick note to Itachi, lying about his whereabouts for the day. After penning down a quick excuse, that more than likely wouldn't satiate the raven's curiosity, he looked up and had to stifle a yelp. Two great yellow eyes peered out of the mirror at him followed by a large crooked grin.

"Damn it Zetsu, don't you ever knock? You nearly scared the life out of me, you bastard." he hissed, voice filled with venom, lip pulled back in a half snarl.

At this the mirror surface rippled a bit and pulled back as flesh and cloak began to pull itself forward. The Akatsuki member's body contorted in an awkward angle as an arm grasped out from the surface of the mirror to cling to the frame and he pulled more of his body forth from the object, that wide crooked smile still adorning his face as he cackled. The yellow eyes darted over to the raven's sleeping form and back to Kisame. "Sleep, sleep, sleep. We thought you would never wake! It was getting so boring just watching you drooling on your pillow."

"Seriously, it's fucking creepy...you just appearing out of nowhere like that." the older man took a step back and crossed his arms, clearly annoyed at the intruder, "You're going to do it in the wrong place, wrong time one of these days if you don't watch it." It was more of a warning than advice to the creature.

"**Wake your partner.**" croaked his black half, clearly not amused with his other half's attempt to anger the shark.

"Why? If this is about his medicine, you can just give it to me. I'll be sure he gets it. It isn't like you're asking me to preform a reanimation jutsu or something. I'm giving him a damn package." already running late, the older man was not amused. He simply didn't have time for Zetsu's shenanigans and needed to get moving his he expected to avoid Itachi's questions. As is, he was worried Zetsu's sudden entrance and cackling would wake the younger man up at any minute. Nervous, he glanced to the figure on the bed and felt relieved when he saw he was still sound asleep.

"**I was not aware you knew of the Uchiha's sickness.**"

"He's my partner. He trusts me." Kisame answered, defensively.

"Trust, trust, trust, trust, thrust..." the white half of Zetsu chided, giggling madly, "Ooooh I'm sure he trusts you very much Hoshigaki-san."

"How long were you watching us, anyhow?" the shark shuddered at the thought. If he'd been watching them all morning waiting for them to awaken, how many other times had he been spying on them? He'd avoid thinking about that. If he did, he might just be inclined to rip the white half from the black half in rage.

His fellow Akatsuki member's smile grew even larger as he he slipped into some sort of sing song voice. "Looooong enough..."

"**Enough with your questions. Shall I dispose of this medicine or are you going to take it?**" the black half pulled an arm from the wall beside the mirror and stretched out his hand in which he held a small brown parcel.

"Damn it, just give it to me." disgruntled, the Mist-nin uncrossed his arms from his chest and snatched the parcel from the pitch black hand.

"Different than the last one, it is." the white half of Zetsu twisted sickeningly to stare upside down at the package in Kisame's hands, "As his condition worsens, the dosage has had to be increased. This has a more _immediate_ effect."

"Worsens?" Kisame was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I thought the Uchiha told you. He does _trust _you afterall, does he not?" his grin grew wider to the point Kisame was surprised his face had not ripped from the strain of his own amusment, and added, "Be warned, it makes him a little _worse_ as the dosage increases as well."

Cackling with laughter, his fellow Akatsuki member swiftly retreated into the glass mirror and wall behind him leaving no traces he had ever been in the room and before the shark could ask him exactly what he meant by 'worse'. The sick feeling in his stomach confirmed him he already knew what the man was insinuating and that the fact Zetsu may be watching them more than he thought.

"Kisame?" the voice was faint and more quiet than usual, but with the pressing anxiety of waking his partner caused him to jump with a start, "What are you doing? It is late. Why did you not wake me?"

"We're staying another day. Already took care of it. And don't worry, I paid for it so don't pull that crap about saving money."

"Why?" asked the Uchiha sleepily.

"You seem pretty tired and I have some things to do." Kisame was never very good at lying to him, or making up excuses on the spot. He silently cursed Zetsu for delaying him, "Don't worry about it. Just get some rest."

He was surprised, and slightly worried, when the raven didn't argue and instead turned over to pull the blankets tighter around his body.

"Zetsu left some new medicine for you. I'm sure you know what to do with it. I'll just leave it on the table." he placed the parcel containing the medicine on the table below the mirror Zetsu had popped out of minutes before.

"Hn..."

Itachi had already drifted off to sleep again. For a moment, the shark debating staying to watch over him while he napped but knew even in such an exhausted state, the raven could protect himself. Still, in case he did not remember their conversation when he awoke, Kisame took the note he had scribbled down earlier and placed it on the table next to the medicine. He wouldn't want him to worry._ 'As if he would.'_ the shark noted, gloomily.

He was about to turn to leave when curiosity stuck him. How exactly was this medicine different than before? The first batch of medicine the plant-nin had brought his partner was a bottle of pills. It certainly couldn't contain more, or else he would have heard the little capsules shifting when he had snatched it earlier. Curiosity got the best of him and he pulled back the brown wrappings of the package, glancing over his shoulder to be sure the crinkling hadn't disturbed Itachi, and then unwrapped it fully when he saw no signs of the raven stirring awake.

Inside the package was a box about the length of his palm and just as wide. Quickly, he popped off the lid to reveal five long syringes and two small bottles of clear liquid. He turned one bottle over with his forefinger, inspecting the label but found it was left unmarked. Whatever it was, it was for Itachi's benefit...still, he half prayed that Zetsu had really just been trying to tease him more when he said it would make Itachi _worse_.

Closing the box, he quietly wrapped it securely back in it's brown wrappings and placed it on the table once more next to the note. Gathering up the things he needed, he placed them into a small pack and secured it next to Samehada on the belt that wrapped around his chest. With a final glance back at his sleeping partner, he pushed open the door to their room and exited into the hall.

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><p>Serveral hours later, he stood in the heart of Konoha, disguised by a transformation jutsu he had worked on occasionally. He had taken the form of a woman. It seemed the most vulnerable and least suspicious choice. Using a transformation jutsu wasn't particularly hard, nor was transforming into the opposite sex. It had been an easy enough justu and he was able to transform himself into a woman with long navy hair and shining yellow eyes. Though he was able to rid himself of the gills that would have surely given his identity away, the light blue grey tint of his skin had remained. The tricky part of the jutsu was hiding your chakra level and signature while still being able to maintain control of the jutsu for an extended period of time. Having such a large reserve, this wasn't a problem for him. Give or take, he'd be able to keep up the disguise for around two hours before it began to strain his body and he was forced to return to his normal form.<p>

Kisame had taken a casual yukata from the hotel before leaving and changed into it after transforming outside of town. The deep forest around the village provided an ample enough hiding place for his cloak and Samehada. She hadn't been too happy about him just leaving her there like that, but eventually stopped rustling in her wrappings and making clicking noises as he reassured her with some gentle words that he'd be back soon. Getting into the village hadn't been as difficult as he had thought. Apparently, he had arrived during some sort of summer festival and many different vendors were entering and leaving the village. Disguising himself as a member of one of their parties had been simple, and he easily passed by the gate keepers who to his surprise and advantage, seemed to be more interested in one another than the people entering the village as they chatted and flirted openly with one another.

Vaguely from their previous endeavor to the ninja village, he remembered a few basic landmarks that might aid him in finding the location of the shop he was looking for. Careful to avoid too much contact, he pushed through the noisy crowd surrounding a ramen shop and skirted around the corner only to come to another dead end. Frustrated, he stopped to survey his surroundings, hoping to gain an inkling of an idea where he was. Towering above the rest of the buildings on the far end of the city he could see the Hokage's dwelling nestled in the shadows of the craggy rock faces of the former Hokage's before. If his memory didn't fail him, he remembered it being somewhere to left of that building about ten streets back on the corner. He thanked his lucky stars that the shop was on a corner. It'd be much easier to find.

Making his way across the stream of people in the street he continued off into a side street and down an alley, making his way to the west side of town. Turn after turn, he found himself actually working away from his desired target. The streets were not exactly straight and some curved off in the opposite direction, while others ended abruptly in dead ends. When he hit another dead end for the fourth time in a row, he wheeled around quickly in frustration at yet again getting lost and collided so roughly with what felt like a solid brick wall, that he fell backwards. A curse was about to escape his lips when he looked up and directly into two coal black eyes and his heart dropped into his stomach like a burning hot stone.

_'No, oh god, no. Anything but this.'_

The black orbs were topped with large dark eyebrows and framed by a perfectly cut out of date hairdo. Kisame cringed as the shining green spandex and obnoxious orange legwarmers confirmed his worst suspicions. It was definitely him, there was no mistaking it; the man he hated more than anyone in his life. The man who had kneed him in the face when he was about to deliver a killing blow to one of the Leaf-nin and mocked him openly. Out of all the damn people in the village he could have run into he had to run into _him_.

_'Someone kill me now...'_ he pleaded to the empty alleyway.

"My deepest apologies!" began the man standing before him and the older man cringed at the sound of his voice, "Are you alright?"

"Uh...yeah, it's okay..." he muttered in reply, "I'm fine."

"A lovely lady such as yourself shouldn't be wandering back alleys alone." the man smirked, his teeth gleaming in the sunlight. Kisame's stomach churned with disgust at being called _lovely _by the spandex clad weirdo. Getting away from him was now top priority. Screw Itachi's present. If he didn't make a run for it and fast, he'd soon find himself strangling the man out of desperation and the last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to himself in a village full of trained ninja. Recoiling, his eyes darted around for any place he could run and hide.

"I-I...wha-" the shark stumbled over his words still confused by being referred to as _lovely_ by that appaling man. He had nearly forgotten that he was disguised as a woman, even if he was a rather awkward and tall one and quickly remembered he had better do his best now out of all times to conduct himself in a _ladylike_ fashion. The man reached out a hand to help him up and with much reluctance he took it, doing his best not to shudder in disgust as the tan hand gripped his own. "We're in broad daylight. Besides, I'll be fine. Now I really need to get goi-"

"Nonsense, miss! I won't have it. Let me accompany you."

"Uh, don't you have something you were doing here?" Kisame pressed, as he dusted off his yukata and glanced about again for a line of escape, "I'd hate to be a burden..." _'More like I'd hate to have to rip your head off in this alleyway before getting what I even came here for...'_

"I insist! Wherever it may be, I shall escort you!"

Kisame thought this over. He had no idea where the shop was located, and this man obviously knew the city well having lived here all his life as a ninja. As much as it pained him to be in his company, if he could tolerate it for just a bit longer he could use him to get to the shop and retrieve Itachi's gift without wasting countless more hours in the city and possibly drawing attention to himself. The longer he was here wandering aimlessly, the most likely he would be to look suspicious to an outsider and the harder it would be for him to maintain his transformation jutsu. He wasn't exactly blending in well with his light blue skin colour either...

"Well, I got lost looking for the Dango Shop." he admitted this as sweet and shyly as possible, attempting to hide his utter dislike for the man, "Do you know of the place?"

"Know of it? Why of course I do!" he beamed, "They have the best dango in town. My good friend, Anko, is one of their best customers. You're actually not that far off. Only a few blocks up the street and to the right and you would have been there!" Kisame cursed his luck. If he had held out a little longer he would have-

Unexpectedly, the spandex clad man hooked his arm around Kisame's and led him along down the street, still smiling brightly as ever while the missing-nin stumbled along in complete shock at the contact. The Mist-nin had the urge to punch him in the teeth, but refrained and let him take the lead as he led him down the crowded streets of Konoha and past several different restaurants, a ramen shop, and a bar that was tucked a little farther into the buildings than the others. A drunken blonde woman was being dragged from the bar by a dark haired woman, kicking and screaming and yelled something unintelligible at the pair. His guide seemed to take no notice of whatever vulgarity she blurted at them and greeted her by name enthusiastically as they walked past. The woman with short dark hair blushed bright red and apologized repeatedly for whatever the woman had said and was still trying to coax her away from the bar when they passed a large group of people and they disappeared from sight.

"Always full of fire, that one! She makes a fine Hokage." Kisame blanched at the idea that the drunken blonde was their Hokage and one of the legendary Sannin. "Even in her age she's still filled with youthful passion!"

The shark caught himself rolling his eyes. He had no desire to hold a conversation with this man. Still, his nemesis chattered along loudly despite not getting any answers out of his partner, making wild gestures in the air with his free arm as he talked. The Mist-nin did his best not to look too displeased and nodded politely.

"Here we are!" the man announced exuberantly after what felt like an hour, leading Kisame into the dango shop still arm in arm and up to the counter.

Even though he had taken the form of a woman, he could still not meet the shopkeeper's gaze as he hurriedly requested an order of dango and a small box of dried tea leaves that he remembered Itachi had ordered a cup of the time they had visited.

"What do you say to me joining you, miss?" the man inquired in a voice with an expression that the shark could only assume was supposed to be charming.

"Oh, I'm not staying..." he replied and added, "They're not for me, you see."

"Oh, a very special someone then?" Kisame heard his voice drop slightly at the thought, but his dazzling smile still remained, "I'm sure he'll find them to his liking."

"...well..." Kisame flushed slightly at the thought of Itachi._ 'Damn this man to hell for making me blush.'_

"Well, he is a very lucky man." his voice softened and this time the dark haired man's smile was truly genuine as he released Kisame from his grasp, taking his hand in his.

"Yes, I suppose he is..." but Kisame had to think it was he, who was the lucky one.

"Perhaps we shall be fated to meet again! Until then, have safe journey maiden." he kissed the hand he had been holding and bowed his head slightly in respect before rushing out of the shop. The Mist-nin could have sworn his cheeks were flushed and he was frowning.

"I'm sure we will." and this time Kisame actually smiled. Oh he was sure they would meet again alright...and because of those last grueling ten minutes spent with him, he would make sure it was very much enjoyable...and bloody.

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><p>Trees passed by him in a blur as the shark made his way back to the inn. He'd been traveling at a good pace for over three hours now and would be reaching his destination soon. The little box concealed in his clock bounced along in his pocket as he ran. More than enough times, he had thrust his hand into his pocket to make sure it was still there. It'd be awful to have traveled so far and went through such a horrid ordeal just to have it fall out of his pocket as he traveled. He cringed at the thought.<p>

To his left the sun was beginning to set in the west. He's make it shortly after darkness fell.

His predictions were correct and shortly after the sun had set beyond the horizon, the lights of the small town in which there were staying appeared in the distance. Picking up the pace, he sped toward the town.

When he pushed back the door he was surprised to find Itachi was curled on the bedmat, asleep. The blanket was once again pushed down at his feet from the raven's flailing. His sleep seemed to be getting more and more restless. Kisame wondered if he had been asleep like that all day. At the sound of him entering the room, his partner's eyes flickered open, sleepily. With one arm he propped himself up and with the other he rubbed his eyes, still heavy with sleep.

"Kisame?" his voice was slurred and eyes unfocused as he looked up at his partner. Kisame slung off the pack and his giant sword and hung his cloak on a hook on the wall but not before removing the package containing the tea and dango. Itachi still seemed rather tired so unless he requested it, he'd make him the tea at a later time.

"I brought you something...for your birthday and all." he announced, moving to sit on the floor next to the raven haired youth.

"Birthday?" his words were slurred and through his slightly vacant eyes Kisame could see the gears clinking into place as the raven slowly realized what his partner had been talking about, "For me?"

"You can't be mad at me for getting it for you though..." he started, fiddling with the wrapping on the package in his hands. Like a child, the raven's eyes widened and he sat upright moving towards the shark, eyes growing large and full of curioisity as he stared at the box in his partner's hands, "I'm sorry for lying to you...I had to go all the way to Konoha and back for it, but I knew you liked them and all. Plus, unless you want to start an old lady shelf of cat figurines back at the Akatsuki lair, I really didn't know what else to get you."

With that, he handed the parcel to Itachi who took it with eager hands. Pulling off the wrapping and flinging it on the floor, the raven just stared open eyes at the box and began to turn it over and over and over in his hands. After turning it over what felt like twenty times, his partner began to run his fingers along the box slowly. And then he giggled. Kisame sighed and glanced over at the table where he had left the medicine Zetsu had delivered. He was wrong. Itachi hadn't been in bed all day. Sometime during the course of the day he had been up enough to make his way to the medicine. Scanning the room he noticed a syringe lying carelessly on the floor some feet away from the table along with a long rubber band. He wondered how long it had been since Itachi had injected the medicine into his veins.

"It's a box." his partner said rather stupidly.

"Uhmm...yeah." Kisame sighed. He's hoped that when he gave the younger man the gift he would have gotten a bit more of a reaction than what he had just received, "Go on, open it."

With a little bit of a struggle, the Uchiha pulled off the lid of the box and exclaimed with a rather uncharacteristic smile, "They're a dango family."

"Aren't you going to eat any?" for a second the shark felt slightly hurt, but remembered his partner wasn't exactly in his right mind, "I mean, you can save them if you want..."

"Eat them?" Itachi seemed almost confused.

"Oh come on!" exasperated, the shark placed a palm to his forehead is disbelief, "Yes, eat them! What else would you do with them? Stick them in your nose? For heaven's sake, Itachi."

The Uchiha stared down at the box of dango in his hand. Six little white rice treats in pink papers stared back at him. Impatient, the shark plucked one from the box and bit it in half. "See, eat it."

Without warning, Itachi jerked forward towards him, mouth closing around the remaining half of dango in his outstretched fingers. Kisame shivered as the tips his fingers holding the treat were engulfed by his partner's hot mouth. His warm tongue brushed one of the digits before pulling back and taking the dango half with it. The raven munched happily on the piece, unaware of the deep blush on his older partner's cheeks.

"I-I think I had better go to bed, Itachi." Kisame managed to stammer, pulling back from the advancing boy who apparently didn't realize the treats were in his own lap and not in the shark's fingers. "Today was really rough. We can share the rest of these tomorrow" He wasn't lying about his day. It had been rather grueling.

Quickly he took the dango from the raven's lap and placed it in a small cooling unit before extinguishing the light and retreating to his bed mat, pulling the covers up over his face. He'd rather not have expose just how much _discomfort_ the youth had caused him with that small contact. Evening his breathing to a slow and steady pace, he pretended to be asleep.

Movement. His blanket was being tugged on. And then, hands were around his torso and a warm body scooted up to press against his back. He felt a face nuzzle into his back between his shoulder blades. Cursing silently, he willed away the burning heat that started to grow below his waist at the contact of the gentle hand resting on his abdomen. He could deal with this... after all, Itachi would have to explain it to himself if he woke up cuddling his partner, not the other way around. And it wasn't exactly unwelcome contact either...

Sleep has almost taken him when he felt hot breath on his neck. Kisame froze. His eyes flung open and whatever weariness he had felt before vanished as the warmth trailed along his shoulder. The shark yelped in surprise as he felt Itachi's soft lips press into his flesh at the crooked of his neck. More kisses followed, trailing up his neck, towards his ear. A groan escaped his mouth as his assailant took the lobe in his mouth, caressing it with his tongue. The hand on his abdomen had begun it's own affections, stroking over his taunt stomach, slowly tracing his muscles with soft fingers.

"W-what are you doing?" he managed to get out, struggling to not let his own desire for the raven's actions to hold precedence over the morality of the situation. The sick realization that Zetsu must not have been lying hit him full force.

No response.

He pushed back from the boy and rolled over to face him. Even in the dark, he could see his face clearly, his eyes free of his usual Sharingan and filled with an emotion he had never seen in them before. Was it...? No, surely it wasn't...desire?

"Itachi?" he questioned again.

The Uchiha reached out a hand to trace his partner's pectorals before placing one hand gently on his shoulder. Scooting forward, his cheek soon joined it as he pressed his face into the shark's broad chest. Itachi murmured something that he couldn't quite hear and the Mist-nin moved his head a little lower to try and catch the words the young man was uttering. As he did so, his partner raised his head and their eyes met. Again he froze, unsure of what to make of the expression in the Uchiha's eyes. Before he could register what was happening and pull away, the raven surged forward and pressed his mouth over Kisame's in an eager kiss. Itachi's tongue lightly coaxed it's way inside the hot expanse of the older man's mouth. Their tongues met, the older man's caressing his younger partner's delicately and uninhibited, his flesh feverish with his own desire.

The shark became lost in their kisses and reached a hand up to cup the youth's jaw to deepen their kiss, exploring the raven's mouth fully, his body nearly incoherent with need. Breaking their kiss he trailed the hand down the man's neck pushing aside the yukata, the fabric falling to land slightly off his young lover's shoulder, and brushed one slender collarbone with his lips sucking gently at the warm flesh. The breathless moan that followed went straight to his groin and he continued to lick and kiss along the raven haired boy's neck and jawline.

Kisame felt hands clumsily exploring his body, touching and stroking every bit of exposed flesh they could reach. As a hand reached to make it's way under his waistband he pulled back with a gasp, remembering just who he was kissing and caressing.

"No..." Itachi moaned softly as his lips retreated from his neck, "Continue...please..."

_'Did he just say...please? And...ask me to keep doing?' _

"Don't stop...please." came another moan, "Make me...feel...please."

_'Damn it, Itachi...you don't know hard it is to say no to you right now...' _

"No, not like this." regretfully, he pried loose the raven's grasping fingers from his trousers and held the hand loosely in his. "I couldn't. As much as I want to, it just isn't right. I might be wanted for mercilessly killing countless people, but I just can't do this to you. Not with you like this. It's...I just can't take advantage of you like this. Not because of my own selfish desire..."

"I want it." the raven breathed, pulling himself against Kisame again, pressing his chest against him. "I want you. I don't want...this feeling to end."

Kisame's defenses nearly collapsed as the Uchiha ground his hips into his own, a wave of pleasure rushing through his body. This time it was his neck being assaulted as his partner places kisses along his neck and down his chest. Again, the man's hands were fiddling with his waistband. With a sharp jerk, the shark pulled back and clambered out of bed, nearly tripping over the blanket. He rushed to grab his cloak throwing it around his shoulders and fastening it into place.

"Not like this, Itachi." he repeated, "Please, go to sleep now."

He fled the room. "Kisame..." he faintly heard his partner call out his name as he closed the door behind him and rushed down the hallway. A few feet down from the door to their room he spotted a chair and quickly retrieved it to prop against the door handle, hoping it might be enough to hold the raven in if he should have the desire to come after him and continued down the hall and out into the chill night air.

This had been too much. Too much and he wasn't sure how much of it he could take. The raven had reduced him to some love sick fool...but what had he done to the raven? More importantly, what had the _medicine_ done to him? Were his advances completely drug induced or was their some underlying emotion behind those that Itachi chose to suppress that was waiting to burst forth, taking every opportunity when his consciousness waned to leak out? He had to know. He _needed_ to know.

It was decided. He would confront the raven tomorrow.

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><p><strong>AN: **If I remember correctly, dango is one of Itachi's favourite foods so what better than to get him a treat from his home village that he obviously misses? Hmmmm, some actual confrontation awaits in the next chapter!

I've begun to realize it must be my goal in life to be a complete utter bastard to every character I love. I suppose it's their right of passage. If Oliver loves you he'll write you in some sort of awful embarrassing situation...Yup, I'm an asshole.

Also, if you haven't yet...follow me on deviantART! I post there are well, but usually a day or so after updating here. Still, I keep a journal and other things there so you'll know **why **I might be absent. Plus you get to read about all these exciting things such as me bitching about my job, life, boss, apartment, and any other awkward and stupid thing that happened to happen to me to piss me off or embarrass me. Hooray!

With that being said, I have also found another love...Star Wars. The flames of the fandom have rekindled in my heart and I have horrible urges to write dirty Obi-Wan and Anakin smut. Lord help me. I've got the hugest crush on Obi-Wan. And as creepy as it sounds...Darth Maul. Oh lord the things I would do to-uhhm, never mind. But really, I should be posting some useless drabbles I've been working on for that so keep an eye out for it! And as always, please review and tell me what you think!


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